The comparison between sequence analysis and linear probe assay for genotyping of hepatitis C viruses in chronic hepatitis C virus-infected patients in Guangdong Province / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the genotype distribution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Guangdong Province by linear probe assay (LiPA) and core,non-structural protein 5B (NS5B) sequence analysis,and to evaluate the accuracy of LiPA for genotyping.MethodsOne hundred and ten HCV specimens from chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients in Guangdong Province were genotyped by both core,NS5B sequence analysis and INNO-LiPA 2.0.The data were then analyzed with SPSS 10.0 software.ResultsAmong the 110 specimens,core and NS5B fragment could be amplified from 97 and 62 specimens,respectively,while both fragments were obtained from 57 specimens. The results of genotyping by core sequence analysis were completely consistent with the results of NS5B sequencing.One hundred and two specimens were classified into five subtypes,i.e.genotype 1a,2a,3a,3b,6a,with frequencies of 61.8％ (64),9.8％ (10),3.9％ (4),3.9％ (4),20.6％ (21),respectively.All but genotype 6 strains can be genotyped correctly by using INNO-LiPA 2.0.However,only subtype 1b and 3b could be genotyped accurately.81.5％ genotype 6a strains were genotyped as 1b by mistake. Conclusions Genotype 6a has become the second most prevalent genotype in Guangdong Province.The LiPA cannot distinguish genotype 6a from 1b strains accurately which needs further investigation.