Distribution of hepatitis C virus in circulating blood components from blood donors

Abstract

Background and Objectives Current nucleic acid tests (NAT) for blood donor screening use plasma as the test sample and, consequently, cannot detect virions bound to blood cells of infected donors. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA and infectious virions have been detected in association with the cellular components of blood of patients with active liver disease; however, studies comparing HCV viral loads in whole blood and plasma have generated contradictory results. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of HCV in different compartments of the peripheral blood from HCV‐infected blood donors, which may differ from that observed in patients with HCV‐associated liver disease. Materials and Methods Hepatitis C virus‐positive donor specimens were identified by NAT and antibody testing. HCV RNA was extracted from samples of whole blood and their corresponding components (RBC and plasma). Viral RNA was quantified by real‐time qRT‐PCR. Results Hepatitis C virus was present in all blood components from infected donors from which RNA could be amplified. For the majority of samples, plasma (34/46) had the highest detectable concentration of HCV RNA, and RBC (37/46) had the lowest. Specimens with negative NAT and positive antibody assays also produced qRT‐PCR negative results. Conclusion These results indicate that including the RBC fraction in the tested sample will not increase assay sensitivity. Although 10% of the specimens had a higher viral load in whole blood, there was no significant overall increase in sensitivity to justify changes in the specimen format. Thus, plasma specimens are well suited for blood donor screening for HCV.

Distribution of Dengue Virus Types 1 and 4 in Blood Components from Infected Blood Donors from Puerto Rico

“…Our laboratory has previously demonstrated that WNV associates with RBCs in blood donors and WNV RNA can be detected in the cellular component of blood samples in concentrations up to 1-log 10 higher than that observed in the plasma co-component of the same sample [ 28 ]. Conversely, for HCV, significantly more viral RNA was detected in plasma than in RBC specimens from the same collection [ 40 ]. The results on the distribution of DENV-1 and DENV-4 in blood samples from this study revealed that there are no significant differences in the detection of DENV viral RNA in individuals with quantifiable amounts of viral RNA in all tested components ( S1 Table and Fig 2 ).…”

Real-time PCR in Clinical Diagnostic Settings

“…Identification of causative agents in disease states is also simplified by the use of real-time PCR assays. These assays provide a fast and specific method to identify bacterial pathogens in sepsis [7][8][9] and pneumonia [10][11][12][13][14], viral agents in hepatitis [15][16][17][18] and respiratory diseases [19].…”