Search results for "Hepatitis C Virus"
showing 10 items of 403 documents
Are hepatitis G virus and TT virus involved in cryptogenic chronic liver disease?
2002
Abstract Background . Hepatitis G virus can cause chronic infection in man but the role of this agent in chronic liver disease is poorly understood. Little is known about the relation of another newly discovered agent, the TT virus, with chronic liver disease. Aim . To investigate the rate of infection with hepatitis G virus and TT virus in patients with cryptogenic chronic liver disease. Patients . A total of 23 subjects with chronically raised alanine transaminase and a liver biopsy in whom all known causes of liver disease had been excluded, and 4D subjects with hepatitis C virus-related chronic liver disease. Methods . Evaluation of anti-hepatitis G virus by enzyme immunoassay. Hepatiti…
Factors Enhancing Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus-Infected Italian People Who Use Drugs: The CLEO-GRECAS Experience.
2021
INTRODUCTION: We assessed the performance of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected people who use drugs (PWUDs) in terms of sustained virological response (SVR) and adherence rates in comparison to a location-matched cohort of non-PWUD HCV patients. METHODS: All consecutive HCV RNA-positive PWUDs were enrolled between 2015 and 2019. All subjects underwent DAA treatment according to international guidelines and then followed, at least, up to 12 weeks after the end of treatment (SVR12). The SVR and adherence to treatment was compared with that of non-PWUD HCV patients observed at hepatological units of the CLEO platform. Intention-to-treat analysis was performed.…
The quantitative humoral immune response to the hepatitis C virus is correlated with disease activity and response to interferon-alpha.
1996
Virus-host interactions may have pathogenetic significance in chronic hepatitis. Thus the humoral immune response was evaluated during the clinical course of HCV-infected patients.Eighteen selected chronic HCV patients received three doses of 3 or 6 MU interferon-alpha 2a weekly for 6 to 12 months and were followed up for 6 to 60 months. Anti-HCV antibody levels were serially measured either in end-point diluted sera with the Matrix-Assay or with quantitative anti-HC34-IgG and -IgM ELISA. Circulating immune complexes were assessed by flow cytometry and the results were correlated with histology, quantitative HCV-RNA levels and genotypes.Nine complete responders (CR; genotypes 1a n = 4; 1b n…
Chronic hepatitis C: the viral load per liver cell before treatment as a new marker to predict long-term response to IFN-α therapy
1998
Abstract Background/Aims: So far, there are no reliable parameters that can predict the long-term sustained response to treatment with interferon-α in patients with chronic hepatitis C. In this study, we have developed a semi-quantitative method to determine the viral load per liver cell and have correlated this factor with the outcome of hepatitis C patients treated with interferon-α. Methods: Hepatitis C virus RNA levels were measured in serum, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and liver cells of randomly chosen hepatitis C patients before treatment with interferon-α ( n =37). The number of cells present in the liver biopsies was determined by a polymerase chain reaction-based quantitati…
IL-10 and TNF-α polymorphisms and the recovery from HCV infection
2003
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection becomes chronic in about 85% of infected individuals, whereas only 15% of infected people clear spontaneously the virus. It is conceivable that the host immunogenetic background influences the course of infection in term of recovery. Thus, in this study we have evaluated the effect of functionally relevant polymorphisms at tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha, i.e., 2 biallelic polymorphisms at nt -863 and nt-308 of the promoter) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) loci (i.e., 1 biallelic polymorphism at nt -1082 of the promoter), on the clearance of HCV infection. To this purpose, we compared 18 Sicilian patients who had spontaneously recovered from previous HCV …
Can the serological status of anti-HBc alone be considered a sentinel marker for detection of occult HBV infection?
2008
Some individuals have “occult” infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV), defined as presence of HBV genome in the serum or liver tissue without HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) in the serum. The aim of this study was to investigate whether serum antibodies against HBV core antigen in isolation (“anti-HBc alone”) are a useful marker of “occult” HBV in patients with or without hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. “Anti-HBc alone” was detected in the sera of 119/6,544 (1.8%) asymptomatic outpatients referred to the diagnostic laboratory for routine testing for viral hepatitis, 62/607 (10.2%) drug users, and 42/195 (21.5%) patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Using three in-house nested-PCR amplifica…
Hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infections in dermatological patients in west Sicily: a seroepidemiological study
2002
Objectives To evaluate the relative frequencies and molecular epidemiological features of viral hepatitis types B and C in dermatological patients in our geographical area. Methods We determined the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies and the hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) in a cohort of 677 dermatological patients admitted to the Department of Dermatology of Palermo. An 8-mL blood sample was taken from all subjects. The following assays were used: HBsAg, anti-HB core (antigen) (anti-HBc), anti-HB surface (antigen) (anti-HBs), anti-HB early (antigen) (anti-Hbe) and anti-HCV antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results One hundred and eigh…
Occult Hepatitis B Infection in the Immigrant Population of Sicily, Italy.
2012
In Italy, about 7 % of the resident population is represented by immigrants originating from geographic regions at high endemicity for hepatitis B virus infection. This study aims to assess the prevalence of occult HBV infection (OBI) including the identification of HBV-genotypes in a population of immigrants serologically negative for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Between May 2006 and May 2010, 339 immigrants were tested for markers of HBV, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections. HBV-DNA was tested by using nested-PCR assays on three different genetic region. HBV-DNA was detected in plasma samples of 11/339 (3.2 %) patients. Most of them had no ser…
Serological pattern of Hepatitis B, C, and HIV infections among immigrants in Sicily: epidemiological aspects and implication on public health.
2011
The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence of Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in a cohort of immigrants living in Palermo, Sicily. The study was carried out in the period May 2006-June 2010 and recruited a total of 393 patients (59.8% males-median age of 32.6 years). All patients were tested for serological markers of HBV, HCV, and HIV infection. One-hundred thirty-eight (35.1%) individuals did not show any HBV/HCV/HIV serological marker, while 186 (47.3%) were indicative of past or current HBV infection. A total of 42 (10.7%) subjects were HBsAg positive, 59 (15.0%) showed the serological profile "anti-HBc …
HVR-1 quasispecies modifications occur early and are correlated to initial but not sustained response in HCV-infected patients treated with pegylated…
2003
Abstract Background/Aims HVR-1 quasispecies composition and evolution were investigated in patients chronically infected with genotype 1b HCV, treated with PEG-IFN α2b or STD-IFN α2b plus RBV. Methods HVR-1 heterogeneity was assessed by calculating nucleotidic complexity, diversity, synonymous (S) and non-synonymous (NS) substitutions at baseline, after 4 weeks of therapy ( T 1) and at follow-up ( T 18). Evolution of viral quasispecies was analysed by constructing phylogenetic trees. Results No correlation of baseline viremia with heterogeneity was observed. Nucleotidic complexity was lower in patients showing early virological response, and tended to be inversely correlated to viral load d…