Nested restriction site-specific PCR to detect and type hepatitis C virus (HCV): a rapid method to distinguish HCV subtype 1b from other genotypes.

ABSTRACT: Genotypic differentiation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) has become an integral part of clinical management and epidemiologic studies of hepatitis C infections. Thus, it is extremely important in areas such as the Czech Republic, where current instrumentation and kits for assessing HCV infection are too costly for widespread use. We describe a new and relatively inexpensive method called nested restriction site-specific PCR (RSS-PCR) that generates a "fingerprint" pattern to represent an HCV genotype without the use of restriction endonucleases and that specifically differentiates HCV genotype 1b from the other HCV genotypes. The RSS-PCR method was applied directly to serum samples from patients with hepatitis C from the Czech Republic and from patients with known HCV genotypes from the United

SUBMITTER: Krekulova L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC88024 | biostudies-literature | 2001 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature