ArticleJournal of clinical microbiology2004
Variable ratio of hepatitis C virus RNA to viral core antigen in patient sera.
Article in Journal of clinical microbiology, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Performance of HCV Antigen Testing for the Diagnosis and Monitoring of Antiviral Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.BioMed research international · 2022Pooled it
- Comparison of serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA and core antigen levels in patients coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus and HCV and treated with interferon plus ribavirin.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2006Trial
- A fully automated, ultrasensitive luminescence cascade sensor to address hepatitis C diagnostic disparity.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2025Article
- Reducing hepatitis C diagnostic disparities with a fully automated deep learning-enabled microfluidic system for HCV antigen detection.Science advances · 2025Article
- Life cycle process dependencies of positive-sense RNA viruses suggest strategies for inhibiting productive cellular infection.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2021Article
- Ultrasensitive electrochemical detection of hepatitis C virus core antigen using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase amplification coupled with DNA nanowires.Mikrochimica acta · 2021Article
- HCV core antigen plays an important role in the fight against HCV as an alternative to HCV-RNA detection.Journal of clinical laboratory analysis · 2021Review
- Hepatitis C virus antigens enzyme immunoassay for one-step diagnosis of hepatitis C virus coinfection in human immunodeficiency virus infected individuals.World journal of hepatology · 2019Article
- Intracellular Hepatitis C Virus Modeling Predicts Infection Dynamics and Viral Protein Mechanisms.Journal of virology · 2018Article
- Article
- Can Hepatitis C Virus Antigen Testing Replace Ribonucleic Acid Polymearse Chain Reaction Analysis for Detecting Hepatitis C Virus? A Systematic Review.Open forum infectious diseases · 2017Review
- Effectiveness of HCV core antigen and RNA quantification in HCV-infected and HCV/HIV-1-coinfected patients.BMC infectious diseases · 2014Article
- Evaluation of an antigen-antibody "combination" enzyme linked immunosorbent assay for diagnosis of hepatitis C virus infections.Ethiopian journal of health sciences · 2014Article
- HCV core antigen and HCV-RNA in HIV/HCV co-infected patients with different HCV genotypes.BMC infectious diseases · 2014Article
- Assessment of total hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein in HCV-related mixed cryoglobulinemia.Arthritis research & therapy · 2014Article
- Is HCV core antigen a reliable marker of viral load? An evaluation of HCV core antigen automated immunoassay.Annals of gastroenterology · 2013Article
- Is hepatitis C virus core antigen an adequate marker for community screening?Journal of clinical microbiology · 2012Article
- Strong correlation between liver and serum levels of hepatitis C virus core antigen and RNA in chronically infected patients.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2012Article
- Toll-like receptor 2 senses hepatitis C virus core protein but not infectious viral particles.Journal of innate immunity · 2009Article
- Usefulness of the hepatitis C virus core antigen assay for screening of a population undergoing routine medical checkup.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2005Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Quantification of hepatitis C virus (HCV) core antigen and RNA in serum samples leads to a highly variable ratio of both. It is not clear whether this is due to the inaccuracy of RNA quantification or whether both are independent parameters in a certain range. We established a real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR for HCV RNA that combines very high sensitivity with a large dynamic range and minimal standard deviations. The assay was calibrated with the first international standard, 96/790, and the international genotype panel for HCV from the National Institute of Biological Standardisation and Control. A linear readout was obtained between 200 and 5 x 10(7) IU/ml. The detection limit was 80 IU/ml, the reproducibility was <0.05 log, and the standard error within one run was <0.01. Comparison of the method with the Roche Monitor competitive RT-PCR revealed its high accuracy. The core protein concentration was determined within a range from 1.5 to 400 pg/ml by using the preliminary trak-C assay from Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. Correlating the HCV RNA levels with core antigen concentrations in 197 serum samples from 23 interferon-treated patients, a average ratio of 7,900 IU of HCV RNA per pg of core antigen was estimated, but the variability of this ratio exceeded largely the variability of the two assays, ranging from 50 to 20,000 IU/pg. Theoretically, HCV should contain ca. 43,000 IU of RNA/pg core. In conclusion, the core antigen assay seems to detect, in addition to complete virions, RNA-free core protein structures, which enhances its sensitivity (98% in this group). The variable ratio of RNA and core protein is not mainly due to standard deviations of quantification but could be an additional parameter for treatment follow-up and state of viral replication.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.