Evaluation of Hepatitis C Virus Antibody Detection From Dried Blood Spots With the Fujirebio INNOTEST® HCV Ab IV

Access to Hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening in resource-limited settings should be enabled not only through the provision of point-of-care screening tests, but also through the possibility of collecting samples in decentralized settings One possible way of decentralizing sample collection is collecting dried blood spot (DBS) specimens, which can be easily transported to testing laboratories, not requiring any cold chain or complex sample transportation. DBS serology screening is complementary to established point-point-of care screening with rapid diagnostic tests, both methodologies being somewhat less cost-effective and less sensitive compared to lab-based methods but suitable for settings without sophisticated infrastructure.

To date, no HCV antibody serology test is formally evaluated for the use with DBS, however several studies on off-label use of DBS in serology screening assays, suggests that this sample type can serve as an alternative to plasma and serum. Fujirebio's enzyme immunoassay (EIA) INNOTEST® HCV Ab IV is CE marked and has received pre-qualification by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the use with venous plasma and serum, which require special equipment for sample collection, sample preparation and temperature controlled transportation.

Available data on the performance of HCV antibody detection from DBS samples are insufficient to introduce their use in clinical practice. Fujirebio is one of the few manufacturers who have an EIA test pre-qualified by the WHO for the use with plasma and serum to detect anti-HCV antibodies. A prospective diagnostic accuracy trial of the Fujirebio INNOTEST® HCV Ab IV assay in fWB and vWB collected on DBS, using EDTA plasma results obtained with the Fujirebio INNOTEST® HCV Ab IV assay as reference standard is needed to understand the relationship between results generated in plasma and WB samples collected on DBS. Furthermore, the data generated can be used by Fujirebio to update their regulatory claims and include DBS as an alternative sample type.