“…Blood samples were obtained at the baseline, weeks 4, 8 and 12 and then 4, 8 and 12 weeks after the end of treatment. HCV serotyping and genotyping were performed as described previously [ 20 ]. HCV RNA was measured by COBAS TaqMan HCV assay version 2.0 (Roch Diagnostics, Tokyo, Japan), with a lower limit of quantification of 15 IU/mL.…”