New real-time-PCR method to identify single point mutations in hepatitis C virus

Table 1 Mixtures carrying the Q and K strands in different proportions, processed by real-time technology following the same protocol as described in Methods, performed to establish the detection limit of the method

Mixture samples code	Variant Q	Variant K
1	0%	100%
2	10%	90%
3	20%	80%
4	30%	70%
5	40%	60%
6	50%	50%
7	60%	40%
8	70%	30%
9	80%	20%
10	90%	10%
11	100%	0%

Table 2 Prevalence of the Q80K polymorphism in G1, G1a, and G1b patients in a Catalonian population

Genotype	Total tested samples	Samples with Q80K variant	Prevalence
Genotype 1	240	13	5.4%
Genotype 1a	137	20	14.6%
Genotype 1b	65	0	0%
Total	442	33	7.5%

A total of 442 samples were processed by the new PCR method using FRET probes: 240 G1 samples (maintained at -80 °C) previously characterized by a first-generation line probe assay (Inno-LiPA v1.0) used to develop the method and 202 recently collected patient samples used to validate the method were analyzed to determine the prevalence of Q80K in HCV subtypes 1a and 1b in our setting.