Performance of serological typing of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in patients who have cleared HCV-RNA from their serum

To evaluate the performance of serological typing of hepatitis C virus (HCV ) in persons who have resolved an HCV infection, sera from 43 patients with HCV-related liver disease who had cleared HCV-RNA from their serum during the observation period were assayed for serotype using an enzyme-linked imm unosorbent assay (ELISA). The assay uses type-specific recombinant peptides (C14-1 and C14-2) derived from the putative NS-4 region of the HCV. Before clearing HCV-RNA, 39 of the 43 patients assayed for serotype were typable; 21 had group 1 (G1) and 18 had group 2 (G2) serotype. After clearing I-ICV -RNA, only one (4.8%) of the 21 patients infected with G1 became untypable, showing negativity for the antibody to C14-1. In contrast, eight (44.4%) o f the 18 patients infected with G2 became negative for antibody to C14-2, r esulting in untypable test results in the serotyping ELISA. Then was a sign ificant difference in the disappearance rate of type-specific antibody betw een the patients infected with G1 and those infected with G2 (P < 0.01, log -rank test). In conclusion, with the serological typing ELISA, the retrospe ctive typing of HCV was possible in the majority of the 43 patients who had cleared an HCV infection, particularly in patients who had had type 1 isol ates. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.