Hepatitis G virus co-infection in liver transplantation recipients with chronic hepatitis C and nonviral chronic liver disease.
Hepatitis G virus (HGV) is a newly described RNA virus that is parenterally transmitted and has been found frequently in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection. To determine the impact of hepatitis G virus co-infection on morbidity and mortality following liver transplantation, we measured HGV RNA by polymerase chain reaction in pre and posttransplantation sera from a cohort of patients transplanted for chronic hepatitis C and a control group of patients transplanted for nonviral causes who were negative for hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in serum. The overall prevalence rate of HGV RNA in transplanted patients with chronic hepatitis C was 20.7%. HGV infection was present before transplantation in 13% while it appeared to have been acquired at the time of transplantation in 7.4%. Mean serum alanine aminotransferase activity, hepatic histological activity, and patient and graft survival were similar between HGV-positive and HGV-negative patients. The prevalence rate of HGV RNA in transplanted controls was 64% (P < .01) with a significantly higher rate of acquisition of HGV infection following transplantation (53%, P < .001) when compared with patients with chronic hepatitis C. Mean serum alanine aminotransferase activity was significantly lower in the control patients with HGV infection alone following transplantation than in patients co-infected with hepatitis C (37 +/- 9 vs. 70 +/- 33 U/L, P < .01). Thus, HGV is frequently found in transplantation patients co-infected with hepatitis C although it appears to have minimal clinical impact. In patients transplanted for nonviral causes of end-stage liver disease, a high rate of hepatitis G acquisition at the time of transplantation may occur but does not appear to predispose to chronic hepatitis.
Fried
M W
MW
Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Khudyakov
Y E
YE
Smallwood
G A
GA
Cong
M
M
Nichols
B
B
Diaz
E
E
Siefert
P
P
Gutekunst
K
K
Gordon
R D
RD
Boyer
T D
TD
Fields
H A
HA
D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000401:mortality / Q000821:virology*; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000401:mortality / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery* / Q000821:virology; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D016019:Survival Analysis
D012367:RNA, Viral