Clinical significance of testing hepatitis C virus core antigen

[Objective]To investigate the significance of serum total HCV core antigen(HCV-cAg) in the HCV infection and treatment.[Methods]One hundred and seventy-three serum specimens of HCV infection patients were examined for HCV cAg and anti-HCV antibody with ELISA,for HCV RNA with real-time RT-PCR.[Results]In 173 anti-HCV positive specimens,the positive rate of HCV RNA was 49.7%(86/173) and the positive rate of HCV-cAg was 36.4%(63/173).The positive rate of HCV RNA was higher than that of HCV-cAg(P0.05).In 86 HCV RNA positive specimens,the positive rate of HCV-cAg was 69.8%(60/86),the negative rate was 30.2%(26/86).The control was negative.[Conclusions]In laboratory where it is impossible for HCV RNA measurement by using RT-PCR,HCV-cAg assay in serum will be very useful for the clinical diagnosis of hepatitis C and the detection of HCV.