ABSTRACT
The optimal hepatitis B virus [DNA] quantitative assay for clinical use remains to be determined. Information on the virus load and the replicative activity of I-IBV is of importance in the management of patients with chronic HBV infection. We evaluate the branched-DNA [bDNA] assay [Quantiplex: Chiron Corp.] in-patients with chronic HBV infection in comparison with HBeAg and in-house HBV DNA-PCR. Serum samples from 53 hepatitis B surface antigen [HBsAg]-positive patients and 20 HBsAg-negative controls were assayed. According to presence or absence of HBeAg, the patients were divided into two groups: [1] First group consists of 9 HBsAg-positive and HBeAg-positive patients, [2] Second group consists of 44 HBsAg-positive and HBeAg-negative patients. Our results showed that the in-house HBV DNA-PCR was positive 77.78% [7 patients] and 15.91% [13 patients] in the first and second groups respectively. The branched DNA was positive [above the detection level] 55.56% [5 patients] and 9.1% [4 patients] in the first and second groups respectively. All the positive patients for HBV DNA by bDNA assay were positive also by in-house HBV DNA-PCR [9 patients]. Only 5 patients were positive for HBV DNA by in-house HBV DNA-PCR and at the same were negative by bDNA [below the detection level]. The rest of patients [39 Patients] were negative for HBV DNA by in-house DNA-PCP and bDNA assays. These results showed that PCR is a more sensitive method for detecting HBV DNA in serum than bDNA assay