[Preliminary studies on inactivation of serum HCV]

Effects of heating and 60cobalt (60Co) irradiation to hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in sera were studied. HCV-RNA can not be detected by PCR in 10 positive serum samples after being heated at 56 degrees C for 10 hours. Whereas, HCV-RNA can still be detected in positive sera after being lyophilized and then heated at 60 degrees C for 20 hours. It suggested heating at 56 degrees C for 10 hours can inactivate HCV in sera and the sera should be in liquid status when thermal inactivation is taken. Lyophilized sera with thermal inactivation for HCV should be inactivated first and then lyophilized. But the safety of sera with heat-treatment should be further investigated. Inactivation of HCV in sera with 60Co irradiation needed extra large dose of it, and protein components in sera would obviously be altered. Therefore, inactivation of HCV in sera with 60Co irradiation is impractical.