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Updated: May 17, 2025
Lipid Droplet Isolation for Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Analysis
Published on: April 17, 2017
A diagnostic target in the 3' untranslated region of hepatitis C virus genome
Weenassarin Ampoot1, Suthipong Chujan1,2, Anusorn Kiattanaphon1
1Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Science, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand.
Introduction:
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes hepatitis worldwide. Detection of HCV infection is important for diagnosis and treatment. The most frequently used method for diagnosis is the detection of the 5' untranslated (5' UTR) conserved target using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Unfortunately, the detection of the 5'UTR is not completely reliable. The 5'UTR may not be the best target for nucleic acid detection because of its complex secondary structures and the variations of different HCV strains. An alternative target is the 3'UTR. The purpose is to evaluate the diagnostic potential of the 3'UTR of HCV.
Methods And Results:
RNA was extracted from sixty-three serum samples. The 3'UTR and 5'UTR were amplified. Within the fifty-nine anti-HCV-positive samples, targeting the HCV 3'UTR and 5'UTR resulted in amplification in 40 (67.8%) and 54 (91.5%) of the samples, respectively. Five samples that were not amplified by 5'UTR detection were found positive by 3'UTR detection.
Conclusion:
These results indicate that PCR detection of the HCV 3'UTR appears less effective than detection of the 5'UTR. Nevertheless, the detection of several regions of the HCV genome by multiplex PCR may improve the accuracy of HCV detection.
