Hepatitis C virus testing in primary biliary cirrhosis.
We retrospectively investigated anti-HCV prevalence in a series of 160 consecutive patients with primary biliary cirrhosis who presented between 1980 and 1989. Of these, 19 (12%) were positive for anti-HCV by C-100 ELISA. Serum IgG levels were significantly higher in anti-HCV-positive patients and correlated to optical density values. A serum sample was again collected from all the patients from the same series who were seen in 1990 for follow-up, after a median period of 32 months. Anti-HCV positivity was found to be substantially unchanged in this subgroup of patients when the freshly drawn blood samples were retested with C-100 ELISA, while it increased from 10% to 17% when second generation ELISA was used. Three of the C-100 ELISA positive samples were C-100 RIBA reactive, and six of the second generation ELISA positive samples were 4-RIBA reactive. The HCV genome was not detected in any of the seven anti-HCV C-100 ELISA and second generation ELISA positive sera which were studied by polymerase chain reaction, including four cases confirmed by 4-RIBA. Life expectancy, as determined by survival analysis, did not differ significantly between anti-HCV-positive and -negative patients. These findings suggest that anti-HCV positivity does not influence the clinical presentation and course of primary biliary cirrhosis.
Bertolini
E
E
First Department of Medicine, School of Medicine S. Paolo, University of Milan, Italy.
Battezzati
P M
PM
Zermiani
P
P
Bruno
S
S
Moroni
G A
GA
Marelli
F
F
Villa
E
E
Manenti
F
F
Zuin
M
M
Crosignani
A
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000382:microbiology; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D004279:DNA, Viral; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies