摘要 : The performance of a commercial kit for hepatitis C virus (HCV) serotyping (Chiron RIBA HCV Serotype SIA, Chiron Corp., Emeryville, CA, USA) was analyzed on serum samples collected from different categories of HCV-infected subject... 展开 The performance of a commercial kit for hepatitis C virus (HCV) serotyping (Chiron RIBA HCV Serotype SIA, Chiron Corp., Emeryville, CA, USA) was analyzed on serum samples collected from different categories of HCV-infected subjects harboring genotypes 1 through 3. Approximately 75% of samples were serotypeable, the main determinants of sensitivity being the category of patients and the presence of reactivity with more than 3 antigens in the third generation recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA 3.0, Ortho Diagnostic Systems, Raritan, NJ, USA). The presence of full reactivity in RIBA 3 was associated with genotype 1 and with higher viral load, and was more frequent in patients with chronic hepatitis C than in other categories (blood donors, pregnant women, patients with acute hepatitis) with lower rate of serotypeable samples. The rate of concordance between HCV serotype and genotype was higher in genotype 1 (86.2%) than in genotypes 2 (75%) and 3 (25%). The analysis of HCV serotype as a predictive factor for interferon treatment was carried out in 63 patients, showing a strong correlation between serotype 1 and lack of response. In conclusion, the HCV serotyping assay is more sensitive in patients with chronic hepatitis C than in other categories of HCV-infected subjects. The performance of the assay is affected by the number of bands in RIBA 3 and, although indirectly, by HCV genotype and RNA load. HCV serotype 1 is a strong predictor of lack of response to interferon treatment. 收起