Rapid procedure for the detection of hepatitis delta virus RNA in sera of HBsAg-positive and anti-delta-positive patients.
A synthetic oligonucleotide duplex of 78 bp corresponding to part of the recently published RNA sequence of hepatitis Delta virus (HDV) was cloned into the plasmid pSBO1 and used for the detection of HDV RNA in sera of patients with chronic HDV infection by molecular hybridization. RNA containing the 78 bp sequence was synthesized in vitro and used as a positive control. For this purpose, a fragment containing the cloned oligonucleotide was transferred into the plasmid pSPT 18. HDV RNA was present in 5 out of 32 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)- and anti-HD-positive patients. It was neither found in the sera of 19 HBsAg-positive, anti-HD-negative patients, nor in the sera of 26 patients with chronic liver disease negative for both HBsAg and anti-HD. The method appears to be suitable for the detection of viruses of which either only parts of the genome or the entire sequence is known.