Genotyping of hepatitis C virus-comparison of three assays.

Background: Genotyping of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is clinically relevant to epidemiology, prognosis, and therapeutical management of HCV infection.

Objectives: Accuracy and specificity of three assays for HCV genotyping/subtyping were determined. The TruGene HCV 5'NC Genotyping Kit (TruGene), which is a direct sequencing test and two assays based on reversed hybridization, Inno-LiPA HCV II assay and ViennaLab HCV Strip Assay, were compared. Amplification products generated by the Cobas Amplicor HCV Test were used.

Study Design: A total of 100 consecutive HCV RNA positive samples derived from patients with chronic hepatitis C were examined for their genotypes/subtypes by the three assays.

Results: Identification of genotypes and subtypes by the TruGene assay as reference test for the Inno-LiPA HCV II assay and the ViennaLab HCV Strip Assay or Inno-LiPA HCV II assay as reference test for the TruGene and the ViennaLab HCV Strip Assay showed similar results for overall accuracies (TruGene as reference test for Inno-LiPA HCV II and ViennaLab HCV Strip Assay, genotypes/subtypes: 100%/95.5% and 97%/92%; Inno-LiPA HCV II as reference test for TruGene and ViennaLab HCV Strip Assay, genotypes/subtypes: 99%/85.9% and 97%/87.9%) and specificities (TruGene as reference test for Inno-LiPA HCV II and ViennaLab HCV Strip Assay, genotypes/subtypes: 100%/97.8% and 99%/97.7%; Inno-LiPA HCV II as reference test for TruGene and ViennaLab HCV Strip Assay, genotypes/subtypes: 100%/99.4% and 99.7%/98%).

Conclusions: The three assays were found to be reliable for the detection and discrimination of all HCV genotypes common in Europe and in North America and to be suitable for the routine diagnostic laboratory.