Determination of hepatitis delta virus RNA by polymerase chain reaction in acute and chronic delta infection

✍ Scribed by Rosendo Jardi; Maria Buti; Montserrat Cotrina; Francisco Rodriguez; Helena Allende; Rafael Esteban; Jaime Guardia

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 610 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0270-9139
• DOI: 10.1002/hep.1840210106

✦ Synopsis

The objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) RNA detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in acute and chronic D hepatitis and to correlate with HDV-RNA detection by dot blot and hepatic delta antigen. Serum samples from 33 patients with acute hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive hepatitis (15 with hepatitis B and D coinfection, 8 with HDV superinfection, and 10 with acute hepatitis B), 85 patients with chronic HBsAg-positive hepatitis (73 with chronic D hepatitis and 12 with chronic B hepatitis), and consecutive serum samples from nine patients with chronic D hepatitis treated with interferon alfa-2b were studied. HDV-RNA was detected by PCR in 93% of the patients with hepatitis B and D coinfection, in 100% of the patients with hepatitis D superinfection, and in 1 of the 10 patients with acute hepatitis B who subsequently seroconverted to total antibody to hepatitis delta antigen (HDAg), whereas HDV-RNA was found by dot blot technique in 60% of the hepatitis B and D coinfection cases, in 62.5% of the patients with hepatitis D superinfection, and in none of the acute hepatitis B cases. In chronic D hepatitis, HDV-RNA tested positive by PCR assay in 97% of patients with intrahepatic HDAg, in one patient with undetectable hepatic HDAg, and in none of the patients with chronic hepatitis B. In the treated patients, HDV-RNA was observed to become negative by PCR only in the three patients who had a persistent response to interferon. The results of this study show that HDV-RNA determination by PCR assay is a reliable tool for the diagnosis of delta infection and a clear improvement over other methods for the evaluation of HDV replication and response to antiviral therapy. (HEPATOLOGY 1995;21:25-29.