Development of one-step real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in combination with automated RNA extraction for detection and quantitation of hepatitis A virus

One-step real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay using the MagNA Pure LC and LightCycler™ system was developed and validated for the detection and quantitation of hepatitis A virus (HAV) RNA. The assay was evaluated using in-house synthetic HAV RNA standard. The real-time RT-PCR assay could quantitate a dynamic range of HAV RNA standard between 10² and 10⁸ copies per reaction. The regression coefficient of the standard curve was an 0.99. The detection limit of the assay was 31.3 RNA copies per reaction. The coefficient variations (CVs) of the assay in combination with automated RNA extraction were less than 1.91% in both intra- and inter-assay. The real-time RT-PCR assay for quantitative detection of HAV would serve a useful method for improving the safety of biological products.