Compositions and methods for detecting or quantifying hepatitis C virus

A method of detecting Hepatitis C virus in a sample comprising:

• contacting the sample with at least first, second, and third amplification oligomers, thereby forming a composition,
• performing a nucleic acid amplification reaction in the composition which produces one or more amplicons in the presence of a Hepatitis C virus nucleic acid, and
• detecting the amplicon, wherein:
• the first amplification oligomer comprises a target-hybridizing sequence comprising at least 10 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:
• 2, including at least a portion of the nucleotide sequence containing positions 5, 7, 12, and 15 of SEQ ID NO:
• 2;
• and
• the second amplification oligomer comprises a target-hybridizing sequence comprising at least 10 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:
• 3 including at least a portion of the nucleotide sequence containing positions 5, 7, 12, and 15 of SEQ ID NO:
• 3;
• and
• the third amplification oligomer comprises at least about 14 contiguous nucleotides of antisense Hepatitis C virus sequence and is configured to specifically hybridize downstream of HCV genomic position 78 of SEQ ID NO:
• 75;
• and
• the target-hybridizing sequences of the first and second amplification oligomers each comprise at least about 14 contiguous nucleotides of Hepatitis C virus sequence;
• and
• the one or more amplicons are produced through extension of the first and third amplification oligomers or the second and third amplification oligomers in the presence of the Hepatitis C virus nucleic acid;
• and (i) at least one of the amplification oligomers is a promoter-primer;
• or (ii) the one or more amplicons are detected with a probe oligomer, wherein the probe oligomer comprises a non-nucleotide detectable label and/or wherein at least about half of the sugar moieties in the probe oligomer are 2′-O-methyl-ribose.