Serotyping of hepatitis C virus in hemodialysis patients: comparison with a standardized genotyping assay

The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes and serotypes in anti-HCV-positive hemodialysis patients and determine the concordance between genotyping and serotyping methods. Sixty-two hemodialysis patients were included in this study. HCV RNA was determined using polymerase chain reaction assay and genotypes using a line probe assay. HCV serotyping was performed with competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Genotype 4 (52 patients) was the most predominant genotype, followed by type 1 (10 patients). The most prevalent HCV serotype was type 4 (41 patients), followed by serotype 1 (6 patients). We detected multiple serotypes in 4 patients and untypeable strains in 11. The overall sensitivity of serotyping assay was 82% for the study patients. According to the genotyping results, the sensitivity of serotyping was 60% and 86.5% for HCV types 1 and 4, respectively. There was a 100% concordance between results of serotyping and genotyping in the identification of HCV type 1 and 91% concordance in HCV type 4. Serological typing method may be of great value in microbiology laboratories that require a simple assay for identification of HCV genotypes, although the sensitivity of this assay may be limited by the immunocompetence of infected hemodialysis patients.