Clinical Studies: Evaluation of clinical usefulness of second-generation HCV core antigen assay: comparison with COBAS AMPLICOR HCV MONITOR assay version 2.0

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important etiologic agent for chronic liver diseases. Methods: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of second-generation HCV core antigen assay by comparing the results of the assay with those of the COBAS AMPLICOR HCV MONITOR version 2.0 (COBAS v2.0). Results: HCV core antigen was detectable by this assay in 142-149 (95.3%) of serotype 1 (3821 plus or minus 322 fmol-l; mean plus or minus SD), in 56-58 (96.6%) of serotype 2 (2589 plus or minus 449 fmol-l), and in 6-6 (100%) of serotypes 1+2 (1240 plus or minus 548 fmol-l). The HCV core antigen levels measured by this assay correlated well with the HCV RNA levels by COBAS v2.0 (r=0.848, P