Recombinant Immunoblot Assay First and Second Generations on 732 Blood Donors Reactive for Antibodies to Hepatitis C Virus by ELISA

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Abstract
A comparison between recombinant immunoblot assay hepatitis C virus (HCV) first generation (RIBA‐1) and second generation (RIBA‐2) was made on 732 blood donors reactive by anti‐HCV ELISA (Ortho Diagnostics System) by the Hepatitis Study Group of the French Society of Blood Transfusion. RIBA‐2 results were correlated with ELISA ratio and ALT levels. The number of both reactive and nonreactive samples was higher with RIBA‐2 than with RIBA‐1, 252 (34%) compared to 224 (31%) for reactive samples, and 404 (55%) compared to 307 (42%) for nonreactive samples. C 22–3 and C 33‐c reactivities were observed in 96 and 91% of the reactive samples, respectively. A total of 76 samples (11%) remained indeterminate by RIBA‐2, 84% of them reacting only on C 100–3 antigen. A clear relationship between RIBA‐2 results and both ELISA ratio and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels was demonstrated: 20% of samples with normal ALT level and 10% of samples with low ELISA ratio were reactive when 91% of samples with ALT > 2N and 69% of samples with high ELISA ratio were reactive. The totality of the 57 samples with both ALT > 2N and high ELISA ratio were reactive and 93% of samples with normal ALT level and low ELISA ratio were nonreactive.