A BRIEF ON GENOTYPING METHODS OF HEPATITIS D VIRUS

Abstract

Hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection is known to be one of the infections that causes the most severe forms of hepatitis, having the worse outcome with higher rates of fulminant hepatitis and liver failure. At the present, there are 8 major clades of HDV known. Considering the involvement of different genotypes in the clinical outcome of hepatitis D, an ideal patient approach would contain with HDV genotyping. The aim of this study was to better understand each HDV genotyping method described in recent years. The objectives were: to identify the techniques used for HDV genotyping, to make a comparative approach to the genotyping techniques, to appreciate the best method of HDV genotyping and to estimate the likelihood of practical application of these techniques. In order to make a comprehensive approach on the genotyping methods of HDV, we’ve carried out a search on the main databases and included the studies that were original, peer-reviewed research studies and were performed on human subjects. We found 4 genotyping methods described in several studies over the years. The methods were: hybridization, RT-LAMP (Reverse Transcription-Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification), PCR-RFLP (Polymerase Chain Reaction- Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) and PCR followed by sequencing. This study could be the basis for implementing the standard technique used in HDV genotyping.

Keywords

• hepatitis d virus
• genotyping
• diagnosis