Tiribelli C

Language: English
References: 0
Page: 161
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Silvia Sookoian “Evaluation of a
third generation…”

The paper reports on a novel approach in the diagnosis of HCV infection and possible prediction of viremia. By applying a microparticle enzyme immunoassay (MEIA), 106 anti-HCV positive sera were analyzed, and the results compared with the data obtained by the conventional RT-PCR. Results were expressed as the ratio between the observed value and the cutoff obtained for each sample. HCV-RNA positive showed a significantly higher (about 10 times) value as compared with RNA negative samples. A cutoff value of 26 was found to be discriminative between presence or absence of HCV-RNA. Although intriguing and potentially important, the main limitation of the study resides on the rather limited number of cases and the uncertainty in the selection criteria (consecutive? non consecutive enrollment?). Moreover, the scattering of the data is also rather substantial pointing to the need of additional series to prove, or disprove, whether what observed may be applicable in the routine diagnosis of HCV infection. Although this “shortcut” appears promising, but preliminary, the time when the golden standard RT-PCR will be replace is still rather far away.