Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 26, 2026
Author Spotlight: Advancements and Challenges in Hepatitis B Virus Detection
Published on: December 15, 2023
Rapid and sensitive approach to simultaneous detection of genomes of hepatitis A, B, C, D and E viruses
Maja Kodani1, Tonya Mixson-Hayden1, Jan Drobeniuc1
1Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Center for HIV, Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30293, United States.
Background:
Five viruses have been etiologically associated with viral hepatitis. Nucleic acid testing (NAT) remains the gold standard for diagnosis of viremic stages of infection. NAT methodologies have been developed for all hepatitis viruses; however, a NAT-based assay that can simultaneously detect all five viruses is not available.
Objectives:
We designed TaqMan card-based assays for detection of HAV RNA, HBV DNA, HCV RNA, HDV RNA and HEV RNA.
Study Design:
The performances of individual assays were evaluated on TaqMan Array Cards (TAC) for detecting five viral genomes simultaneously. Sensitivity and specificity were determined by testing 329 NAT-tested clinical specimens.
Results:
All NAT-positive samples for HCV (n = 32), HDV (n = 28) and HEV (n = 14) were also found positive in TAC (sensitivity, 100%). Forty-three of 46 HAV-NAT positive samples were also positive in TAC (sensitivity, 94%), while 36 of 39 HBV-NAT positive samples were positive (sensitivity, 92%). No false-positives were detected for HBV (n = 32), HCV (n = 36), HDV (n = 30), and HEV (n = 31) NAT-negative samples (specificity 100%), while 38 of 41 HAV-NAT negative samples were negative by TAC (specificity 93%).
Conclusions:
TAC assay was concordant with corresponding individual NATs for hepatitis A-E viral genomes and can be used for their detection simultaneously. The TAC assay has potential for use in hepatitis surveillance, for screening of donor specimens and in outbreak situations. Wider availability of TAC-ready assays may allow for customized assays, for improving acute jaundice surveillance and for other purposes for which there is need to identify multiple pathogens rapidly.
