Quantification of hepatitis C virus by competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction: increase of the virus in advanced liver disease.
We developed a quantitative method of hepatitis C virus RNA by competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. With this method, 36 patients with type C chronic liver disease were analyzed for the copy number of circulating hepatitis C virus in 50 microliters of serum. The amounts of hepatitis C virus RNA ranged from 10(1) to 10(7) copies in the 36 patients. The average amount of hepatitis C virus RNA was 10(3.3 +/- 2.2) copies in 12 patients with chronic persistent hepatitis, 10(5.7 +/- 1.6) copies in 12 patients with chronic active hepatitis and 10(6.0 +/- 1.6) copies in 12 patients with cirrhosis (including 4 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma). The amount of hepatitis C virus RNA in serum was significantly less in patients with chronic persistent hepatitis than in patients with chronic active hepatitis or cirrhosis (p < 0.01), and it tended to increase according to the progression of histopathological changes of the liver. Furthermore, it was revealed that the amount of hepatitis C virus RNA became exponentially larger as the term from infection became longer. Quantification of hepatitis C virus RNA by competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction may have many applications for the study of clinical features of hepatitis C virus infection.
Kato
N
N
First Department of Medicine, Chiba University School of Medicine, Japan.
Yokosuka
O
O
Hosoda
K
K
Ito
Y
Y
Ohto
M
M
Omata
M
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000382:microbiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015246:Deoxyribonuclease EcoRI / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000382:microbiology*; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000382:microbiology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism
D012367:RNA, Viral; D015246:Deoxyribonuclease EcoRI