Highly Sensitive Detection of Hepatitis B Using ddPCR

Developing new, more sensitive assays to detect chronic infections, like those from the hepatitis B virus (HBV), is imperative to when trying to manage associated diseases such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Now, a new study from investigators at the Center for Gene Diagnosis in the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, China, describes a new HBV assay that offers advantages over currently used methods because it can detect closed circular DNA (cccDNA) in serum, single cells,