Multicenter quality control of hepatitis C virus protease inhibitor resistance genotyping

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease inhibitor resistance-associated substitutions are selected during triple-therapy breakthrough. This multicenter quality control study evaluated the expertise of 23 French laboratories in HCV protease inhibitor resistance genotyping. A panel of 12 well-defined blinded samples comprising two wild-type HCV strains, nine transcripts from synthetic NS3 mutant samples or from clinical strains, and one HCV RNA-negative sample was provided to the participating laboratories. The results showed that any laboratory with expertise in sequencing techniques should be able to provide reliable HCV protease inhibitor resistance genotyping. Only a 0.7% error rate was reported for the amino acid sites studied. The accuracy of substitution identification ranged from 75% to 100%, depending on the laboratory. Incorrect results were mainly related to the methodology used. The results could be improved by changing the primers and modifying the process in order to avoid cross-contamination. This study underlines the value of quality control programs for viral resistance genotyping, which is required prior to launching observational collaborative multicenter studies on HCV resistance to direct-acting antiviral agents.