NANBV diagnostics: polynucleotides useful for screening for hepatitis C virus
Chiron Corporation
A new virus, Hepatitis C virus (HCV), which has proven to be the major etiologic agent of blood-borne NANBH, was discovered by Applicant. Reagents for isolating, amplifying, and detecting HCV polynucleotides are provided. These reagents are oligomers comprised of polynucleotide sequences which are capable of forming hybrid structures with HCV target polynucleotide sequences.
1ClaimsFirst of 27
- 1
A purified preparation of an oligonucleotide, wherein the oligonucleotide is capable of selectively hybridizing to the genome of a hepatitis C virus (HCV), or its complement, relative to other viral agents, and further wherein the oligonucleotide comprises a contiguous sequence of at least 10 nucleotides fully complementary to either strand of the nucleotide residue sequence depicted in FIG. 1.
2Description
The invention relates to materials and methodologies for managing the spread of non-A, non-B hepatitis virus (NANBV) infection. More specifically, it relates to an etiologic agent of non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and to polynucleotides and analogs thereof, which are useful in assays for the detection of HCV in biological samples.