Search results for "hepatitis C viru"
showing 10 items of 408 documents
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…
HCV replication in mononuclear cells stimulates anti-HCV-secreting B cells and reflects nonresponsiveness to interferon-α
1995
Recently, it was demonstrated in chronic hepatitis C that the release of IgG and IgM anti-HCV antibodies by mononuclear cells (PBMCs) correlated with inflammatory activity, HCV persistence in serum, and negative outcome from antiviral therapy. Thus, persistent antigenic stimulation of the antibody-secreting B cells has been suggested. In this study, PBMCs were derived from 13 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Nucleic acids were extracted by the guanidine-thiocyanate-method, and plus- and minus-stranded HCV-RNAs were determined using primers from the 5'-untranslated region of HCV. Simultaneously, unstimulated PBMCs were cultured for 8 days and anti-HCV antibodies were detected in the supern…
Virological profiles in patients with chronic hepatitis C and overt or occult HBV infection
2002
Abstract OBJECTIVES: The virological profiles of hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV and HCV) and their interplay in cases of coinfection are undefined. A suppressed and occult HBV infection may occur in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) negative patients with chronic hepatitis C. The HCV core protein is able to inhibit HBV “in vitro,” and serines at positions 99 and 116 are essential for such inhibition. We aimed to assess the HBV and HCV virological profiles in cases of coinfection and to evaluate the relationship between HCV core gene variability and HBV activity. METHODS: Eighty-two anti-HCV positive patients were examined: 35 cases were HBsAg positive, 24 were HBsAg negative with “occult”…
Occult hepatitis B virus in liver tissue of individuals without hepatic disease
2008
Abstract BACKGROUND/AIMS: While many data are available concerning occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in patients with hepatic disorders, there is little information about this cryptic infection in individuals without liver disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of occult HBV in the general population by examining liver specimens from a large series of HBV-surface-antigen negative individuals with no clinical and biochemical evidence of liver disease. METHODS: The presence of HBV DNA was evaluated by testing, through polymerase chain reaction techniques, DNA extracts from 98 liver-disease-free individuals who underwent liver resection or needle biopsy during …
IgM and IgG antibodies to hepatitis C virus in patients with mixed cryoglobulinaemia
1993
SUMMARY To assess the relationship between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and essential mixed cryoglobulinaemia (EMC), sera from 23 patients with EMC were tested for IgG and IgM antibodies to HCV antigens and for HCV RNA. Quantitative HCV antibody studies were performed on scrum and purified cryoglobulin fractions. HCV antibodies of both IgG and IgM class were found in 22 (96%) patients. Ten of these were also HCV-RNA positives. Higher litres of anti-HCV IgM were present in the 11 patients with evidence of liver damage. Anti-HCV IgG antibodies were shown to be concentrated in the IgG fraction of cryoglobulins in all eight patients studied. These results strongly suggest a role for HCV in…
Serum hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA and response to alpha-interferon in anti-HCV positive chronic hepatitis
1992
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication was assessed before and during alpha-interferon (IFN) treatment in 22 anti-HCV positive patients with posttransfusion or sporadic chronic hepatitis (CH). Eleven patients were “responders” and 11 patients “non-responders” to IFN. Thirteen anti-HCV negative healthy subjects and five anti-HCV negative patients with autoimmune CH served as controls. Serum HCV-RNA was detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in all untreated anti-HCV positive patients but in none of the anti-HCV negative subjects. PCR primers from the 5′-non-coding (NC) region were more sensitive than primers from a non-structural (NS5) region in detecting HCV-RNA (21/22, 95% vs. 7/22, …
Endogenous levels of mRNA for IFNs and IFN-related genes in hepatic biopsies of chronic HCV-infected and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis patients.
2003
To investigate the intra-hepatic activation of the IFN system in patients affected by chronic HCV-infection in comparison with that observed in a non-infectious liver disease such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, we measured the liver steady state mRNA levels of interferon-alpha, interferon-beta and interferon-gamma as well as of IFN-related genes (IFNAR-1, STAT1alpha, PKR, 2-5 AS, IRF-1, ICE and IL-18). In HCV-infected subjects, possible correlations of these parameters with viral load and liver injury were also analyzed. Twenty-four chronic untreated HCV-infected subjects and seven patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis were enrolled in the study. Liver biopsies were graded accordin…
The viral clearance in interferon-treated chronic hepatitis C is associated with increased cytotoxic T cell frequencies
1999
Abstract Background/Aims: Cytotoxic T lymphocytes have been demonstrated in peripheral blood and liver tissue of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection, but their significance for viral clearance is unknown. Therefore, we analyzed hepatitis C virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte precursor frequencies in chronic hepatitis C virus carriers during interferon-α treatment. Methods: Blood mononuclear cells or CD8+ T cells from HLA-A2 positive and negative patients and controls were analyzed in chromium-release assays using a panel of 18 synthetic peptides from the HCV core, E1 and NS4 antigens bearing HLA-A2 binding motifs. Specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte precursor frequencies were st…
Third-generation hepatitis C virus tests in asymptomatic anti-HCV-positive blood donors
1994
This study evaluated the performance of third-generation anti-HCV assays in blood donors who were positive by second-generation anti-HCV, and assessed any possible relationship between antibody patterns, HCV replication and liver damage. Fifty-two second-generation enzyme immunoassay-positive asymptomatic Italian blood donors were retested for anti-HCV by third-generation enzyme immunoassay and recombinant immunoblot assay (Ortho third-generation enzyme immunoassay, third-generation recombinant immunoblot assay), utilising recombinant C33c and NS5 and synthetic peptide C100 and C22 antigens, and for HCV-RNA by "nested" polymerase chain reaction with 5' region primers. Alanine aminotransfera…