HCV core antigen plays an important role in the fight against HCV as an alternative to HCV‐RNA detection

Abstract

Objective: To discuss the clinical significance of HCV-cAg testing in the diagnosis, activity determination, and monitoring of therapeutic effectiveness of HCV infection and its advantages compared with HCV-RNA and anti-HCV antibodies detection. Methods:By summarizing the published literature, the advantages and significance of HCV core antigen detection were sought.Results: The expression of HCV-cAg is highly consistent with that of HCV-RNA, but compared with HCV-RNA, detection of HCV-cAg is easy to operate, time saving, and low cost. HCV-cAg can be detected within 12~15 days after infection, and the window period can be shortened by5~7 weeks. HCV-cAg is a serological indicator of virus replication, which can distinguish previous infection of HCV or current infection.HCV-cAg detection is more suitable for immunocompromised, hemodialysis, organ transplant patients. HCV-cAg also can be used to monitor antiviral efficacy and predict sustained virological response (SVR). Conclusion:HCV core antigen has similar clinical sensitivity to NAT and can be used as a substitute for HCV-RNA in the diagnosis of virus infection. Combined detection of HCV-cAg and antibody serology can help doctors detect HCV infection earlier, accurately diagnose different stages of HCV infection, and evaluate the therapeutic effect of antiviral drugs, which are beneficial in the prevention and treatment of hepatitis C.

Performance Evaluation of In Vitro Screening and Diagnostic Kits for Hepatitis C Virus Infection

“…These data suggested the incompatibility of quantified data by these kits. This incompatibility may cause problems in the clinical use of these kits because HCV Ag quantification is used as an alternative to HCV RNA to diagnose HCV infection and the evaluation of the pathological condition or therapeutic effects of chronic hepatitis C (Tanaka et al, 2003;Wang et al, 2021). In addition, the underestimation of HCV Ag values based on the correlation with HCV RNA has also been reported in some specimens.…”

Meta‐analysis: diagnostic accuracy of hepatitis C core antigen detection during therapy with direct‐acting antivirals

“…Therefore, the HCVcAg assay could be a helpful tool for monitoring HCV treatment at EOT and SVR, optimising available health resources. 39 In a recent meta-analysis, Flores et al 40 evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of HCVcAg for monitoring HCV treatment. However, they performed the meta-analysis without taking into account stratification at different treatment monitoring points.…”

Rapid Visual Detection of Hepatitis C Virus Using Reverse Transcription Recombinase-Aided Amplification–Lateral Flow Dipstick

“…However, due to the long window of antigen and antibody detection, false negatives occur with some frequency ( Kun et al., 2016 ; Llibre et al., 2019 ). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based temperature-variable amplification technology is the most reliable HCV-RNA detection method and is considered the gold standard for HCV diagnosis ( Fitzpatrick et al., 2018 ; Wang et al, 2021 ). While PCR-based tests are highly sensitive, they are expensive, are time-consuming, and require complex equipment, so they cannot be used for rapid point-of-care-testing (POCT) in low-resource areas with high HCV infection rates.…”