Comparison of hepatitis C virus strains obtained from hemodialysis patients

To understand what genotypes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) exist in Taiwan, we chose the non-structure 5 (NS5) region of the HCV genome for the target area of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect HCV RNA from sera of hemodialysis patients. Of 39 serum samples which were positive for the HCV antibody among 87 samples from hemodialysis patients, 12 (antibody against HCV core protein, OD > 2) were examined by the RT-PCR. The plasmid pUC19 was used to clone HCV cDNAs in the NS5 region (401 bp) derived from 11 serum samples which were positive for HCV RNA. Sequence analyses of individual clone of these 11 amplified cDNA fragments were performed. Dr. Cha's classification (16) suggested that two genotypes of HCV were found in these serum samples; type II (2/18.2%) and type III (9/81.8%). Our study indicates also that NS5 is an adequate target region to differentiate HCV strains derived from different patients in the same hospital. The analysis of the amplified cDNA in the NS5 region of the HCV genome will therefore provide suitable information to perform a molecular epidemiological study on the transmission routes of this important virus infection.