Figure 1

Comparison of the sensitivity of the E2-HVR1 PCR using Taq and HF-2 enzymes. RNA was extracted from duplicate serial dilutions of a WHO HCV standard and RT-PCR was performed with Taq and HF-2 enzymes. The dilutions corresponded to 50,000 (5K), 1,000 (1K), 500, 100, and 50 IU/ml, and are indicated above each lane. The position of the 176 bp E2-HVR1 is indicated with arrows. MW represents the 100 base pair DNA molecular weight marker. Below each lane is the result of testing of the same dilution of the standard with the Roche COBAS Amplicor assay. The result of this test gives a positive (+) or negative (-) result.