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Core antigen tests for hepatitis C virus: a meta-analysis

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Abstract

Diagnosis and monitoring of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection relies mainly on the detection of HCV antibodies and HCV RNA. HCV antibody test has a longer window period and is not applicable in the immunosuppressed population. Although HCV RNA test reduces the window period, it is still not widely recommended because of its high cost and requirement of specific equipment. HCV core antigen is another direct virological marker which has been investigated in recent years. HCV core antigen assay is as simple as the HCV antibodies assay and can detect HCV infection only 1 day delay compared to the HCV RNA assay. In order to evaluate the application of HCV core antigen test in HCV diagnosis and management, we performed this meta-analysis. Twenty five articles were finally included in meta-analysis. All statistical analyses were performed with MetaDisc 1.4 and Stata 11.0. The pooled sensitivity of HCV core antigen assay was 0.84 (95 % CI, 0.83–0.85), and the pooled specificity was 0.98 (95 % CI, 0.97–0.98). HCV core antigen assays may not displace HCV RNA assays to be a definitive diagnosis of HCV infection until now. Considering the higher sensitivity (0.926) and specificity (0.991) of subgroup, HCV-cAg detection is a promising method as a confirmatory test for HCV antibody positive, therapy-naive individuals. Explored by meta-regression and subgroup analysis, possible sources of heterogeneity of specificity was found, while the heterogeneity of sensitivity was still significant.

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Acknowledgment

Supported by Project funded by Science and Technology Bureau of Hangzhou City (Grant No. 2010633B28).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Xiaoshan First Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Hangzhou Normal University, Xiaoshan, 311201, Zhejiang, China

    Shuijun Gu

  2. Department of Clinical Laboratory, Xiaoshan First Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Hangzhou Normal University, Xiaoshan, 311201, Zhejiang, China

    Jun Liu, Huijun Zhang, Baoluo Gu, Hanjiang Lai, Hongliang Zhou & Chaoqi He

  3. Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310029, Zhejiang, China

    Yingying Chen

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  1. Shuijun Gu
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Correspondence to Jun Liu or Yingying Chen.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 4.

Table 4 Quality problems of included studies according to QUADAS
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Gu, S., Liu, J., Zhang, H. et al. Core antigen tests for hepatitis C virus: a meta-analysis. Mol Biol Rep 39, 8197–8208 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-1667-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-1667-z

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