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Chronic hepatitis C infection: Influence of the viral load, genotypes, and GBV‐C/HGV coinfection on the severity of the disease in a Brazilian population
Author(s) -
Pereira Leila M.M.B.,
Spinelli Victorino,
Ximenes Ricardo A.,
Cavalcanti Maria S.,
Melo Raul,
Jucá Norma,
Mizokami Masashi,
McFarlane Ian G.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.2188
Subject(s) - genotype , virology , gb virus c , restriction fragment length polymorphism , hepatitis c virus , flaviviridae , coinfection , untranslated region , biology , population , viral load , virus , hepatitis c , liver disease , cirrhosis , medicine , rna , genetics , gene , environmental health
The distributions of the different genotypes of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and GBV‐C virus (GBV‐C/HGV) vary geographically and information worldwide is still incomplete. In particular, there are few data on the distribution of genotypes (and their relationship to the severity of liver disease) in South America. Findings are described in 114 consecutive patients from Northeast Brazil (median age 52 years, range 18–72 years) who had abnormal levels of serum aminotransferases and seropositivity for HCV RNA. The patients were recruited from an outpatient clinic between November 1997 and April 1998. Quantitative HCV RNA and GBV‐C/HGV RNA estimations were carried out by double‐nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers from the 5′‐untranslated regions (UTRs) of the genomes. HCV genotypes were determined by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis with 5′‐UTR primers and by PCR with type‐specific 5′‐UTR primers. GBV‐C/HGV‐RNA genotypes were determined by RFLP with specific 5′‐UTR primers and phylogenetic trees were constructed using the Neighbour‐Joining and Drawtree programs. Histological features were graded and staged according to international criteria. Of the 114 patients, 35 (30.7%) patients had cirrhosis and 22 (27.8%) had mild, 51 (64.6%) had moderate, and 6 (7.6%) had severe chronic hepatitis. Median HCV viral load was 10 6 genome equivalents per millilitre (range 10 4 –10 9 /ml). Frequencies of genotypes were 5.3% type 1a, 44.7% type 1b, 3.5% type 2, 41.2% type 3, and 5.3% mixed types. GBV‐C/HGV‐RNA was detected in the sera of 12 (10.5%) patients and was distributed among three phylogenetic groups. There were no significant differences between patients with the predominant HCV genotypes (1b and 3) with respect to gender, age group, viral load, severity of liver disease, or coinfection with GBV‐C/HGV. J. Med. Virol. 67:27–32, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.