Prevalence of anti-HCV-F in hemodialysis patients with hepatitis C virus infection

Objective To assess the prevalence of hepatitis C virus F(HCV-F) antibody in hemodialysis patients with HCV infection.Methods The recombinant protein(HCV-F/GST) was coated onto micro titer plates as antigen.Sera of 128 renal dialysis patients with hepatitis C virus infection were tested by indirect enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay(ELISA) for detecting HCV-F antibody.Logistic regression was adopted to analyze the risk factors of anti HCV-F.Results Among the patients,58(45.3%) exhibited a positive anti-HCV-F reaction.Time of hemodialysis,coinfection with hepatitis B virus(HBV),and HCV RNA were correlated with the expression of F protein(P=0.038,0.012,and 0.002).Logistic regression identified that duration of hemodialysis ≥10 years(odds ratioOR=4.153,95% confidence intervallCI:1.435-12.023) and positive HCV RNA(OR=3.697,95%CI:1.498-9.123) were risk factors of the anti HCV-F.Conclusion Anti-HCV-F was detected in hemodialysis patients.Expression of F protein may be correlated with reproduction of HCV.