Evaluation of Hepatitis C Viral Load Quantification on DBS in Vietnam (MOVIDA-Hep)

March 21, 2022 updated by: Institut Pasteur

Improving Access to Viral Load Monitoring in HIV-infected Patients on ART in Decentralised Area Using Dried Blood Spot : Evaluation of Hepatitis C Viral Load Quantification on DBS

In Vietnam, the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is estimated between 0.4% and 5%, which is much higher than the prevalence in Europe or in the USA. After HCV diagnosis, HCV viral load quantification is crucial in order to distinguish recovered from active (on-going) HCV infection and hence identify those who need antiviral treatment to cure HCV infection. HCV viral load quantification is also important to assess treatment efficacy.

Currently, anti-HCV antibodies detection is available around the country. However, access to confirmation of HCV viremia remains scarce particularly in decentralized areas. One of the reason is the limited number of laboratories able to perform this complex biological measurement; moreover, these laboratories are situated only in large urban centres.

Blood sampling using DBS could help overcome this difficulty of access to a laboratory, and widen access to HCV viral load monitoring.

The present MOVIDA Hep study aims at validating the use of DBS to measure HCV viral load as compared to plasma (gold standard). A secondary objective is to evaluate the measurement of HCV core antigen on DBS. For this, 315 patients need to be enrolled form outpatient clinics in Hanoi. The laboratory in charge of these measurements would be the virology laboratory of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) in Hanoi (Vietnam).

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The "Monitoring Of Viral load In Decentralised Area" (MOVIDA) project aims at giving access to viral load (VL) monitoring to the patients coming from remote areas using Dried Blood Spot as tool of sampling.

In resource-limited settings, many biological exams are not accessible to the entire population due to logistic and financial constraints. Regarding infection with hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV and HCV), serological screening tests are easy to perform and are available nationwide in either laboratory format or rapid diagnosis tests. However, hepatitis B DNA and C RNA assessment is not available in decentralised area as no laboratory is able to perform this complex biological measurement.

WHO, in their latest guidelines, recommends using dried blood spots (DBS) as an alternative to serum or plasma. Blood is easy to collect on DBS, either after veni- or capillary puncture. Capillary blood collection can be of great interest when venipuncture is complex, for example in injecting drug users (IDUs) in whom finding an accessible vein can be difficult. Then it is easily transferred, and at a low cost as it does not require a cold chain, to a laboratory able to perform the HCV VL quantification. As of today, little is known about the performance of standard commercial HCV diagnostic assays when using DBS and none of these studies were performed in routine setting in resource-limited setting.

In Vietnam, HCV seroprevalence in the general population is estimated between 0.4% and 5%, which is much higher than the prevalence in Europe or in the US. Genotype 1 is the more prevalent in Vietnam, genotype 6 that is only found in South East Asia is the second most frequent, but other genotypes are circulating . In Vietnam, HCV prevalence is much higher in the HIV-infected population and in injecting drug users (IDUs). Currently, anti-HCV antibodies detection is available around the country even if some difficulties remain. However, access to HCV HCV viral load measurement in routine remains scarce particularly in decentralized areas because the technique is complex, expensive and need well-trained personnel and high standard of equipment. Thus, HCV viral load measurement remains non accessible to the vast majority of patients diagnosed with HCV.

This study (MOVIDA Hep) aims at evaluating the quality of HCV VL monitoring when using DBS (collection of venous and capillary blood) as compared to plasma (gold standard), in routine condition and using the existing machines. This, to find out if DBS can be used for HCV viremia confirmation in Vietnam, in the virology laboratory of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) in Hanoi (Vietnam) where these measurements would be performed.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

315

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Hanoi, Vietnam
        • Dong Da Hospital
      • Hanoi, Vietnam
        • Nam Tu Liem Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • ≥18 years of age
  • Known HCV infection
  • Willing to participate to the study by giving his/her consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

None

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Blood sampling
blood samples from venepuncture (10mL) and from fingertip (approximatively 0.4mL) on a dried blood spots
Blood sample of 10 mL by venipuncture and 0,4 mL by finger prick

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Quantification of HCV RNA on DBS compared to plasma as gold standard
Time Frame: Up to 4 weeks
Sensitivity and specificity of HCV RNA VL measured on DBS collected by venipuncture
Up to 4 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Quantification of HCV RNA measured on DBS using plasma as gold standard
Time Frame: Up to 4 weeks
Sensitivity and specificity of HCV RNA VL measured on DBS collected by finger prick
Up to 4 weeks
Correlation between HCV RNA VL measured on DBS and on plasma.
Time Frame: Up to 6 months
Correlation between HCV RNA VL measured on DBS (collected by venipuncture and finger prick) and on plasma.
Up to 6 months
Quantification of HCV core antigen using HCV RNA VL as gold standard
Time Frame: Up to 8 weeks
Sensitivity and specificity of HCV core antigen using HCV RNA VL as gold standard
Up to 8 weeks
Correlation between HCV core antigen and HCV RNA VL on plasma
Time Frame: Up to 6 months
Correlation between HCV core antigen and HCV RNA VL, both measured on plasma.
Up to 6 months
Quantification of HCV core antigen measured on DBS using HCV RNA VL measured on plasma as gold standard.
Time Frame: Up to 8 weeks
Sensitivity and specificity of HCV core antigen measured on DBS collected by venipuncture using HCV RNA VL measured on plasma as gold standard.
Up to 8 weeks
Correlation between HCV core antigen measured on DBS and HCV RNA VL measured on plasma.
Time Frame: Up to 6 months
Correlation between HCV core antigen measured on DBS collected by venipuncture and HCV RNA VL measured on plasma.
Up to 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Fabien TAIEB, MD, PhD, MPH, Institut Pasteur
  • Principal Investigator: Tuan Anh NGUYEN, MD, PhD, National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 9, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 11, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

July 11, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 10, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 11, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

September 13, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 1, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 21, 2022

Last Verified

February 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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