Development of a sensitive PCR inhibition method to demonstrate HBV nucleic acid inactivation.

Background: The evaluation of pathogen reduction technologies with relevant viruses currently contaminating the blood supply is limited by the availability of high-titer virus inocula and sensitive in vitro or in vivo infectivity assays. Because HBV infectivity can only be assessed by in vivo studies with chimpanzees, a sensitive PCR inhibition assay was developed to measure PEN110 inactivation of HBV.

Study Design And Methods: PCR amplification of 1.