Clinico-pathological significance of hepatitis C virus core antigen levels in chronic infection

Hepatitis C virus core antigen (HCVcoreAg) may be measured in serum with a sensitive, recently validated assay. Beyond its value as a marker of viral infection, there are little data on its relation with clinical, histological, and virological parameters. In this study, the significance of HCVcoreAg levels was studied in a prospective cohort of 114 patients with chronic hepatitis C. HCVcoreAg was measured by a commercial chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. Clinical and virological data included quantitative HCV‐RNA, HCV genotype, ALT, GGT, IL28B rs12979860 polymorphism as well as liver histology parameters. HCVcoreAg levels were correlated significantly with HCV‐RNA (r = 0.56; P