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Use of short-tandem repeat (STR) fingerprinting to validate sample origins in hepatitis C virus molecular epidemiology studies

Edwards, Victoria C.; McClure, Patrick; Brown, Richard J.P.; Thompson, Emma; Irving, William L.; Ball, Jonathan K.

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Authors

Victoria C. Edwards

Richard J.P. Brown

Emma Thompson

William L. Irving

Jonathan K. Ball



Abstract

Sequence analysis is used to define the molecular epidemiology and evolution of the hepatitis C virus. Whilst most studies have shown that individual patients harbour viruses that are derived from a limited number of highly related strains, some recent reports have shown that some patients can be co-infected with very distinct variants whose frequency can fluctuate greatly. Whilst co-infection with highly divergent strains is possible, an alternative explanation is that such data represent contamination or sample mix-up. In this study, we have shown that DNA fingerprinting techniques can accurately assess sample provenance and differentiate between samples that are truly exhibiting mixed infection from those that harbour distinct virus populations due to sample mix-up. We have argued that this approach should be adopted routinely in virus sequence analyses to validate sample provenance.

Citation

Edwards, V. C., McClure, P., Brown, R. J., Thompson, E., Irving, W. L., & Ball, J. K. (in press). Use of short-tandem repeat (STR) fingerprinting to validate sample origins in hepatitis C virus molecular epidemiology studies. Journal of General Virology, 95(1), https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.057828-0

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 4, 2013
Online Publication Date Jan 1, 2014
Deposit Date Mar 27, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 27, 2014
Journal Journal of General Virology
Print ISSN 0022-1317
Electronic ISSN 1465-2099
Publisher Microbiology Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 95
Issue 1
DOI https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.057828-0
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/719866
Publisher URL http://jgv.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.057828-0
Contract Date Mar 27, 2014

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