Gastroenterology. 2005 Jun;128(7):2168-70.
Hepatology. 2005 Jan;41(1):23-5.

Persistence of hepatitis C virus in patients successfully treated for
chronic hepatitis C.

Radkowski M, Gallegos-Orozco JF, Jablonska J, Colby TV, Walewska-Zielecka B,
Kubicka J, Wilkinson J, Adair D, Rakela J, Laskus T.

Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, Scottsdale, AZ 85259, USA.

It is unclear whether the current antiviral treatment for chronic hepatitis C
virus (HCV) infection results in complete elimination of the virus, or whether
small quantities of virus persist. Our study group comprised 17 patients with
chronic HCV who had sustained virological response (SVR) after
interferon/ribavirin treatment.

Serum and peripheral blood mononudear cells were collected 2 to 3 times at 3- to
6-month intervals starting 40 to 109 months (mean, 64.2 +/- 18.5 months) after
the end of therapy. In addition, lymphocyte and macrophage cultures were
established at each point. In 11 patients, frozen liver tissue samples were
available from follow-up biopsies performed 41 to 98 months (mean, 63.6 +/- 16.7
months) after therapy.

Presence of HCV RNA was determined by sensitive reverse-transcriptase
polymerase chain reaction, and concentration of positive and negative
strands was determined by a novel quantitative real-time reverse
transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.

Only 2 of 17 patients remained consistently HCV RNA negative in all analyzed
compartments. HCV RNA was detected in macrophages from 11 patients (65%) and in
lymphocytes from 7 patients (41%). Viral sequences were also detected in 3 of 11
livers and in sera from 4 patients. Viral replicative forms were found in
lymphocytes from 2 and in macrophages from 4 patients.

In conclusion, our results suggest that in patients with SVR after therapy,
small quantities of HCV RNA may persist in liver or macrophages and lymphocytes
for up to 9 years. This continuous viral presence could result in persistence of
humoral and cellular immunity for many years after therapy and could present a
potential risk for infection reactivation.

PMID: 15619235 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Source URL:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstra\
ct&list_uids=15619235



Sandra Tara Balduf (Ane)

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