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[Preprint]. 2023 Jul 7:2023.07.06.23292160.
doi: 10.1101/2023.07.06.23292160.

Validation of Dried Blood Spots for Capturing Hepatitis C Virus Diversity for Genomic Surveillance

Damien C Tully  1   2 , Karen A Power  3 , Jacklyn Sarette  3 , Thomas J Stopka  4 , Peter D Friedmann  5 , P Todd Korthuis  6 , Hannah Cooper  7 , April M Young  8 , David W Seal  9 , Ryan P Westergaard  10 , Todd M Allen  3
Affiliations

Validation of Dried Blood Spots for Capturing Hepatitis C Virus Diversity for Genomic Surveillance

Damien C Tully et al. medRxiv. .

Update in

Abstract

Dried blood spots (DBS) have emerged as a promising alternative to traditional venous blood for HCV testing. However, their capacity to accurately reflect the genetic diversity of HCV remains poorly understood. We employed deep sequencing and advanced phylogenetic analyses on paired plasma and DBS samples to evaluate the suitability of DBS for genomic surveillance. Results demonstrated that DBS captured equivalent viral diversity compared to plasma with no phylogenetic discordance observed. The ability of DBS to accurately reflect the profile of viral genetic diversity suggests it may be a promising avenue for future surveillance efforts to curb HCV outbreaks.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Maximum-likelihood tree of DBS (closed black circle) and plasma (open white circle) derived consensus sequences. (b) overall intra-host nucleotide diversity within each sample. Lines denote paired samples between DBS and Plasma (c) Correlation of variant frequencies observed for SNVs candidates detected with deep sequencing of DBS and plasma.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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