Development of Synthetic Molecular Standards for Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C Virus

Viral hepatitis caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major health concern and affects millions of people worldwide. Patients are routinely monitored by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) for the presence of HCV RNA or by qPCR for HBV DNA in blood. Since these viruses are difficult to culture in vitro, obtaining control material for these molecular-based assays is a challenge. To address this problem, ATCC has developed HBV and HCV specific quantitative synthetic molecular standards for use as controls for the detection and quantification of these viruses from clinical samples.