The recently discovered gold nanoparticle-based diagnostic kit for early-stage detection of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection has been augmented with technology to differentiate HCV 1 & 3 genotypes without the time consuming and expensive Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain reaction (RT-PCR), said researchers from BITS Pilani, Hyderabad campus, and Bioviz Technologies, following a collaboration with Deccan College of Medical Sciences, on Tuesday.
HCV is a lethal virus causing liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma if left undiagnosed and/or untreated. It has 8 genotypes, among which genotype 1 (46.2%) and 3 (30.1%) are the most prevalent worldwide. In India, the HCV genotype 1 is more than 24% and genotype 3 is more than 54%, said Prof. Jayati Ray Dutta of BITS Pilani.
Determination of the corresponding genotype is often required to ascertain the precise medication and the treatment duration, The commonly used RT-qPCR test is used for this and to circumvent this, researchers from the three institutes have come together to diagnose the most prevalent genotypes 1 and 3 using a nanotechnology-based strategy.
It can be easily adopted even by the rural health sector as it would not require highly-skilled personnel and sophisticated infrastructure. About 79 clinical samples have been analysed with the new kit and it has shown a lower detection limit of 100 IU/ml with 100% sensitivity and selectivity, said a press release.
“Our test takes just an hour unlike the 4-6 hours typically required for the RT-qPCR test,” claimed Prof. Datta. The research team comprises Almas Shamaila Mohammed, Aniket Balapure, Prof. Aleem Ahmed Khan, Dr. Mahammad Nanne Khaja and Prof. Ramakrishnan Ganesan. Findings have been published in the latest edition of the journal ‘Analyst’ - DOI: 10.1039/d1an00590a; Royal.
