Dried blood spot self-sampling at home is a feasible technique for hepatitis C RNA detection

To facilitate HCV diagnosis, we developed an HCV-RNA testing service, which involved home-sampled dried blood spots (DBS). The main objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of self-sampling at home. Furthermore, to optimise the processing of DBS samples for RNA detection, we evaluated two elution buffers: phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and L6-buffer. 27 HCV-RNA and 12 HIV-1 RNA positive patients were included. Laboratory spotted DBS (LabDBS) were made by a technician from blood samples drawn at inclusion. Patients received a DBS home-sampling kit and were requested to return their self-sampled DBS (ssDBS) by mail. We compared the RNA load of PBS and L6-eluted labDBS, and of L6-eluted ssDBS, L6-eluted labDBS and plasma. LabDBS load measurements were repeated after 7-13 and 14-21 days to evaluate RNA stability. All 39 plasma samples provided quantifiable RNA loads. In 1/39 labDBS sample, RNA could not be detected (plasma HCV load: 2.98 log10 IU/ml). L6-eluted samples gave a 0.7 log10 and 0.6 log10 higher viral load for HCV and HIV-1 respectively, compared to PBS-eluted samples. Strong correlations were found between labDBS and ssDBS HCV RNA (r = 0.833; mean difference 0.3 log10 IU/mL) and HIV-1 RNA results (r = 0.857; mean difference 0.1 log10 copies/mL). Correlations between labDBS and plasma values were high for HCV (r = 0.958) and HIV-1 (r = 0.844). RNA loads in DBS remained stable over 21 days. Our study demonstrates that self-sampling dried blood spots at home is a feasible strategy for the detection of HCV and HIV-1 RNA. This could facilitate one-step diagnostics and treatment monitoring in communities with high HCV prevalence.