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The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes and serotypes in anti-HCV-positive hemodialysis patients and determine the concordance between genotyping and serotyping methods. Sixty-two hemodialysis patients were included in this study. HCV RNA was determined using polymerase chain reaction assay and genotypes using a line probe assay. HCV serotyping was performed with competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Genotype 4 (52 patients) was the most predominant genotype, followed by type 1 (10 patients). The most prevalent HCV serotype was type 4 (41 patients), followed by serotype 1 (6 patients). We detected multiple serotypes in 4 patients and untypeable strains in 11. The overall sensitivity of serotyping assay was 82% for the study patients. According to the genotyping results, the sensitivity of serotyping was 60% and 86.5% for HCV types 1 and 4, respectively. There was a 100% concordance between results of serotyping and genotyping in the identification of HCV type 1 and 91% concordance in HCV type 4. Serological typing method may be of great value in microbiology laboratories that require a simple assay for identification of HCV genotypes, although the sensitivity of this assay may be limited by the immunocompetence of infected hemodialysis patients.

The association between HLA class II antigens and childhood primary nephrotic syndrome has been reported in different populations. To investigate this association in Egyptian children, DRB1 alleles were typed by DNA polymerase chain reverse hybridization in 20 frequent relapsers/steroid-dependent and 14 steroid-resistant children with minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) and 121 unrelated healthy controls from the northern part of Egypt. The strength of the association was expressed as the relative risk (RR) estimated by the odds ratio. The DRBI*07011 allele frequency was significantly higher among patients than controls (78.9% vs. 16%, Pc <0.001). The etiological fraction (EF) was high at 0.75 [RR=20.1, confidence interval (CI)=6.0-66.7]. Similarly, patients with steroid-resistant MCNS had a higher frequency of the DRBI*07011 allele than controls (64.3% vs. 16.5%, P c<0.001). The EF was high at 0.57 (RR=9.6, CI 2.9-31.7). In the whole group of patients the frequency of DRBI*11 alleles was low compared with controls (11.4% vs. 32.2%, P =0.02), but was not significant when P was corrected. In conclusion, the DRBI*07011 allele confers susceptibility to a frequently relapsing and steroid-dependent or steroid-resistant course of childhood MCNS. These patterns of the disease seem to have the same immunogenetic components.