TABLE 3.
Inhibitory effects of heparin on PCRa
| No. of viral copies/ml | Extraction method | RNA | Test results (A660) for serum samples with the following heparin concn (U/ml):
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 6.5 | 13 | |||
| 103 | Manual | HCV | − (0.028) | − (0.022) | − (0.018) |
| IC | − (0.014) | − (0.009) | − (0.012) | ||
| Automated | HCV | + (3.992) | + (3.992) | + (3.992) | |
| IC | + (3.993) | + (3.993) | + (3.993) | ||
| 105 | Manual | HCV | − (0.042) | − (0.018) | − (0.019) |
| IC | − (0.012) | − (0.010) | − (0.007) | ||
| Automated | HCV | + (3.995) | + (3.995) | + (3.995) | |
| IC | + (3.993) | + (3.993) | + (3.843) | ||
a
Heparin was added to serum containing 103 or 105 copies of HCV per ml. RNA was extracted by the conventional manual method (the SepaGene RV-R method) and the automated method based on probe capture and magnetic B-F separation, and the HCV RNA was amplified with the COBAS AMPLICOR system. Data are means of duplicate assays. IC, internal control.