丙型肝炎病毒传播分子流行病学诊断技术研究进展

Recent advances in molecular epidemiological methods for analyzing hepatitis C virus transmission

丙型肝炎病毒（hepatitis C virus，HCV）感染是导致肝硬化和肝癌发生的主要病原体之一。HCV的准种构成及病毒进化十分复杂，深入分析HCV准种构成是研究HCV传播机制的重要手段。HCV高变区（hypervariable region，HVR）是编码E1、E2／NS2的区域，该区域变异率很高，利用先进的测序技术和生物信息分析方法来分析HCV HVR准种构成，可深入了解HCV的传染来源、传播路径和进化程度。目前应用于HCV HVR准种分析的技术包括一代、二代和三代测序法及不同的生物学软件，国际上已广泛应用于HCV暴发调查溯源分析，尤其是医源性传播。当丙肝疫情发生时，通过新一代测序技术和生物学信息分析方法来进行病例溯源研究和传播路线分析，可为丙肝防控和治疗提供科学依据。

Hepatitis C virus （HCV） infection is one of the main reasons causing liver cirrhosis and hepatoeellular careinoma. The quasispecies eomposition and the evolution of HCV are very complicated. An in-depth analysis of the quasispecies composition of HCV is eritical for elucidating the mechanisms of HCV transmission. The regions encoding the envelope glyeoproteins （E1 and E2） and the nonstructural protein 2 （NS2） are hyper variable regions （HVR）. Analyzing the quasispecies of HCV HVR with advanced sequen- cing and bio-information technologies would be beneficial for understanding the sources of HCV infection, the routes of transmission and the evolution of HCV. Currently, three generations of sequencing methods and some bio-information soft-wares are available for analyzing HCV HVR quasispecies. When an outbreak of HCV infection happens, using the new generation of sequencing and bio-information methods to seek the first ease and, the routes of transmission would provide scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of HCV in- fection.