I have tried isolating very low copies of HBV DNA from human serum with the Qiagen viral DNA isolation kit but I was unsuccessful however DNA is isolated with the same kit when the viral load is very high. How can I isolate the viral DNA from serum of patients with low copies of virus?
When you extract DNA of your sample if it had even on copy number of HBV,you isolate that. For PCR detection it depends on your primer sensitivity. When you have low copy number your primer sensitivity maybe not respond or you have many Interfering agent.
PCR and nested PCR are highly prone to detecting contaminating DNA rather than the true virus that was in the patient sample. Extreme caution (never having PCR reactions or PCR product in the room where patient samples are handled, for example) can reduce this, but even the very most careful labs sometimes experience contamination events. If the viral load is near zero it may just not be possible to harvest the virus for genotyping or other analyses.
Serology can remain positive for many months after viral load has gone below detection, but serotyping may not be useful to you.
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