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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

A Protocol for Analyzing Hepatitis C Virus Replication
Published on: June 26, 2014
Real-time quantitative assay of HCV RNA using the duplex scorpion primer
1The Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medical Diagnostics, Ministry of Education, The Faculty of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing, PR China.
Abstract:
A novel real-time quantitative method for detecting HCV in serum was established in which the duplex scorpion primer was used to provide a unimolecular probing mechanism for hybridizing the highly conserved 5' noncoding region (5' NCR) of the HCV genome specifically. Through methodological evaluation, we found this new method had a wide linearity, high sensitivity, repeatability and specificity. Compared to the commercial TaqMan method, this method was found to be more sensitive and less costly, and the final results were obtained more quickly. Therefore, it could be applied to diagnose and monitor HCV infection in clinical practice.

