Table 1. Oligonucleotide primers and conditions used for PCR amplification of HCV E2 and NS3 regions.

Primer positions refer to the HCV-1 prototype (Genbank accession M62321).

Primer	Sequence	Nucleotide position
HVR-1
First Round RT-PCR:
{43°C for 30 min; (94°C for 10 sec; 55°C for 30 sec; and 72° for 30 sec) × 35 cycles}
244 bp PCR product
Outer Sense	5′-GGTGCTCACTGGGGAGTCCT-3′	1389–1408
Outer Antisense	5′-CATTGCAGTTCAGGGCAGTCCTG-3′	1632–1610
Second Round PCR:
{(94°C for 10 sec; 50°C for 20 sec; 72°C for 30 sec) × 35 cycles}
176 bp PCR product
Inner Sense	5′-TCCATGGTGGGGAACTGGGC-3′	1428–1447
Inner Antisense	5′-TGCCAACTGCCATTGGTGTT-3′	1603–1584
NS3
First Round RT-PCR:
{43°C for 30 min; (94°C for 10 sec; 50°C for 20 sec; 72°C for 30 sec;) × 35 cycles}
537 bp PCR product
Outer Sense	5′-ACGTACTCCACCTACGGCAA-3′	4215–4234
Outer Antisense	5′-AAGGTAGGGTCAAGGCTGAA-3′	4750–4731
Second Round PCR:
{(94°C for 10 sec; 50°C for 20 sec; 72°C for 30 sec) × 35 cycles}
289 bp PCR product
Inner Sense	5′-CATCCCAACATCGAGGAGGT-3′	4417–4435
Inner Antisense	5′-TTGCAGTCTATCACCGAGTC-3′	4705–4686