Hepatitis C virus RNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells: relation with response to interferon treatment.
J Med Virol
; 47(1): 16-22, 1995 Sep.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-8551253
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to investigate the presence of positive and negative hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA strands in serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 20 patients with histologically proven HCV-related chronic liver disease. All patients completed a course of interferon (IFN) treatment (6 MU of IFN-alpha 2b three times a week for 24 weeks) and were followed-up for 12 months after treatment was discontinued. Pre-treatment, end-treatment and 6-month follow-up serum and PBMC samples were examined. At enrollment, the positive strand of HCV-RNA was detected in serum of 18 patients (90%), the negative strand in none. Positive-stranded HCV-RNA was detected in PBMC of 15 patients (75%), 13 of whom also had detectable levels of negative-stranded HCV-RNA in PBMC. By the end of the treatment, 12 patients (60%) were responders. The pre-treatment HCV infection of PBMC, indicated by the presence of both RNA strands, was found in 8 (66.7%) responders compared to 5 (62.5%) non-responders (P = n.s.). End-treatment loss of PBMC HCV-RNA correlated significantly with the response since it occurred in all responders compared to 2 non-responders (P = 0.02). However, end-treatment-negative serum and PBMC HCV-RNA did not predict the occurrence of a sustained response, which was observed at month 12 in 5 of 12 responders (P = n.s.). On the other hand, the persistent absence of HCV RNA in serum and PBMC at the end of the 6-month follow-up was significantly associated with the occurrence of a sustained response (P < 0.0001).
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Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
ARN Viral
/
Leucocitos Mononucleares
/
Interferón-alfa
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Hepatitis C
/
Hepacivirus
Tipo de estudio:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
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Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Med Virol
Año:
1995
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Italia
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos