Hepatitis C virus core antigen as a possible alternative for evaluation of treatment effectiveness after treatment...

Area of Science:

• Hepatology
• Virology
• Clinical Diagnostics

Background:

• Chronic hepatitis C (HCV) remains a significant global health concern.
• Current monitoring of treatment efficacy often relies on expensive molecular methods (HCV RNA).
• Serological methods, such as HCV core antigen (HCVcAg) quantification, offer a cheaper and simpler alternative.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of HCV core antigen (HCVcAg) quantification as a surrogate marker for assessing hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment efficacy.
• To compare the performance of HCVcAg measurement against standard HCV RNA quantification.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative evaluation of HCV RNA and HCVcAg in 514 serum samples from treated HCV patients.
• Sample collection occurred at baseline, end of treatment, and follow-up (≥12 weeks post-treatment).
• HCV RNA was measured using automated Roche COBAS assay; HCVcAg using ARCHITECT ci8200 analyser.

Main Results:

• Significant correlation between HCVcAg and HCV RNA concentrations at baseline and follow-up, but not at treatment end.
• High concordance rates between HCV RNA and HCVcAg: 98.1% (pre-treatment), 98.9% (end of treatment), 98.7% (follow-up).
• HCVcAg detection demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy: sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values all exceeded 97%.

Conclusions:

• HCV core antigen (HCVcAg) measurement is a viable alternative for assessing hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment efficacy post-chemotherapy.
• HCVcAg offers a practical and accurate option for HCV infection diagnosis and monitoring.