title: Distribution of infecting hepatitis C virus genotypes in end-stage liver disease patients at a large American transplantation center.
abstract: The distribution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes was studied in 202 anti-HCV-positive liver transplant candidates with end-stage liver disease. HCV sequences were successfully amplified from 185 patients: In the first 100, the genotype was determined by direct sequencing in the NS5 region, and in the remaining 85, type-specific primers were used for genotyping. Eighty-five patients (46.0%) were infected with type 1a HCV strains, 52 (28.1%) with type 1b, 14 (7.6%) with type 2b, 13 (7.0%) with type 4, 5 (2.7%) with type 3a, 2 (1.1%) with type 2a, and 1 (0.5%) with type 2c. Thirteen HCV-positive patients (7.0%) could not be genotyped. The relatively low prevalence of genotype 1b in this population of end-stage liver disease patients speaks against postulated higher pathogenicity of this genotype.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Pittsburgh Transplantation Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213-2582, USA.
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Laskus
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poutous
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Demetris
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dodson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casavilla
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fung
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gayowski
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marino
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rakela
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral