Villar LM, Cruz HM, Barbosa JR, Bezerra CS, Portilho MM, Scalioni LP. Update on hepatitis B and C virus diagnosis. World J Virology 2015; 4(4): 323-342 [PMID: 26568915 DOI: 10.5501/wjv.v4.i4.323]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Livia Melo Villar, PhD, Technologist, Viral Hepatitis Laboratory, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Av. Brasil, 4365, Rio de Janeiro 21041-210, Brazil. lvillar@ioc.fiocruz.br
Research Domain of This Article
Infectious Diseases
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Virology. Nov 12, 2015; 4(4): 323-342 Published online Nov 12, 2015. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v4.i4.323
Update on hepatitis B and C virus diagnosis
Livia Melo Villar, Helena Medina Cruz, Jakeline Ribeiro Barbosa, Cristianne Sousa Bezerra, Moyra Machado Portilho, Letícia de Paula Scalioni
Livia Melo Villar, Helena Medina Cruz, Jakeline Ribeiro Barbosa, Cristianne Sousa Bezerra, Moyra Machado Portilho, Letícia de Paula Scalioni, Viral Hepatitis Laboratory, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro 21041-210, Brazil
Author contributions: Villar LM designed the outline and coordinated the writing of the paper; Cruz HM, Barbosa JR, Bezerra CS, Portilho MM and de Paula Scalioni L performed data acquisition and writing; Cruz HM, Barbosa JR, Portilho MM and de Paula Scalioni L prepared the tables.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest associated with any of the senior author or other coauthors contributed their efforts in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Livia Melo Villar, PhD, Technologist, Viral Hepatitis Laboratory, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Av. Brasil, 4365, Rio de Janeiro 21041-210, Brazil. lvillar@ioc.fiocruz.br
Telephone: +55-21-25621918 Fax: +55-21-22706397
Received: June 3, 2015 Peer-review started: June 4, 2015 First decision: August 8, 2015 Revised: September 25, 2015 Accepted: October 23, 2015 Article in press: October 27, 2015 Published online: November 12, 2015 Processing time: 163 Days and 4 Hours
Abstract
Viral hepatitis B and C virus (HBV and HCV) are responsible for the most of chronic liver disease worldwide and are transmitted by parenteral route, sexual and vertical transmission. One important measure to reduce the burden of these infections is the diagnosis of acute and chronic cases of HBV and HCV. In order to provide an effective diagnosis and monitoring of antiviral treatment, it is important to choose sensitive, rapid, inexpensive, and robust analytical methods. Primary diagnosis of HBV and HCV infection is made by using serological tests for detecting antigens and antibodies against these viruses. In order to confirm primary diagnosis, to quantify viral load, to determine genotypes and resistance mutants for antiviral treatment, qualitative and quantitative molecular tests are used. In this manuscript, we review the current serological and molecular methods for the diagnosis of hepatitis B and C.
Core tip: Reliable methods for diagnosing hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are essential to reduce the burden of these infections. Serological and molecular assays are used to identify acute and chronic cases of infection. In this article, the current knowledge about HBV and HCV diagnosis is updated and emphased the characteristics of each techniques to be useful to most laboratory personnel.
