Search for the presence of occult hepatitis C in patients with treatment-induced viral clearance using an ultrasensitive assay
| Autor: | Dzekova-Vidimliski Pavlina, Nikolov Igor G., Matevska-Geshkovska Nadica, Boyanova Yana, Nikolova Nina, Antonov Krasimir, Mateva Lyudmila, Dimovski Aleksandar, Rostaing Lionel, Šikole Aleksandar |
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| Jazyk: | English<br />Serbian |
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Srpski Arhiv za Celokupno Lekarstvo, Vol 144, Iss 7-8, Pp 418-423 (2016) |
| Druh dokumentu: | article |
| ISSN: | 0370-8179 2406-0895 |
| DOI: | 10.2298/SARH1608418D |
| Popis: | Introduction. Occult hepatitis C is defined by the presence of virus in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and/or liver cells, in the absence of serum viremia. Objective. To detect the persistence of occult hepatitis C in hemodialysis (HD) patients and patients without renal disease (non-renal) with treatment-induced clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, using assays with a very low detection limit of viremia. Methods. A group of 13 HD patients and a group of 43 non-renal patients, with treatment-induced HCV infection clearance were investigated in the study. The HD patients were treated with pegylated interferon alpha (PEG-IFN-α) only, while the non-renal patients were treated with a combination therapy of PEGIFN- α and ribavirin. Detection of a possible persistence of HCV RNA in the PBMCs and plasma samples was assessed by an ultrasensitive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay (2 IU/ml). Results. HCV RNA was not detected in the PBMCs and plasma samples of HD patients and of non-renal patients, when assessed by the ultrasensitive RT-PCR assay. Conclusion. When a sensitive RT-PCR assay was applied, to determine if treatment induced clearance of HCV infection had been successful, occult hepatitis C could not be detected by an ultrasensitive assay, neither in HD nor in non-renal patients. |
| Databáze: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
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