Detection of serum hepatitis B virus DNA in patients with chronic hepatitis using the polymerase chain reaction assay.

TLDR

The study compares the sensitivity of PCR to slot‑blot hybridization for detecting HBV DNA in serum from 31 chronic hepatitis patients. The comparison involved performing PCR and slot‑blot hybridization assays on patient serum samples. PCR detected HBV DNA in all 14 patients positive for both surface and e antigens, in 8 of 9 patients positive for surface antigen and anti‑e antibody, and in 4 of 8 patients positive by slot‑blot, yielding a >10⁴‑fold sensitivity increase and enabling detection of as few as three viral genomes per serum sample.

Abstract

We compared the sensitivity of the polymerase chain-reaction (PCR) assay to that of slot-blot hybridization for detecting hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in the serum of 31 patients with chronic hepatitis. Of 14 chronic hepatitis patients positive for both HBV surface and HBV e antigens, 9 were positive for HBV DNA by slot-blot hybridization and all 14 by PCR. Also, of 9 patients positive for HBV surface antigen and antibody against HBV e antigen, 2 were positive for HBV DNA by slot-blot analysis and 8 by PCR. Finally, in 8 patients positive for HBV DNA by slot-blot hybridization, but 4 were positive by PCR. We find that analysis by the PCR technique provides a greater than 10(4)-fold increase in sensitivity over the slot-blot hybridization assay. This result represents an important breakthrough in sensitivity because it is now possible to detect as few as three HBV DNA genomes per sample of serum.