HCV core-antigen assay as an alternative to HCV RNA quantification: A correlation study for the assessment of HCV viremia.

Introduction: Detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA and the HCV core antigen assay (HCV-Ag) are reliable techniques for the diagnosis of active and chronic HCV infection. Our aim was to evaluate the HCV-Ag assay as an alternative to quantification of HVC RNA.

Methods: A comparison was made of the sensitivity and specificity of an HCV-Ag assay (204 serum samples) with those of a PCR assay, and the correlation between the two techniques was determined.