title: Detection of hepatitis C virus genomic sequences in the cerebrospinal fluid of HIV-infected patients.
abstract: To assess the presence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the central nervous system (CNS), HCV-RNA was sought in paired serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples of 21 HIV/HCV-positive patients: HCV-RNA was detected in the serum of 19/21 patients (90.4%), and in the CSF of five of the 19 serum-positive patients. The presence of HCV-RNA was confirmed in follow-up CSF samples available for three of these five patients. An identical HCV genotype was found in the paired serum/CSF samples. No correlation was found between the different genotypes and the presence of HCV in CSF of the individual patients. HCV viremia levels measured by branched-DNA and quantitative PCR were not significantly higher in the CSF-positive cases than in the CSF-negative cases (P = 0.3, using b-DNA; 0.5, using quantitative PCR). This report shows the presence of HCV in CSF and raises the possibility that the CNS may act as a reservoir site for HCV.
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases Department, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Morsica
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Bernardi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Novati
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Uberti Foppa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Castagna
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lazzarin
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000821:virology*; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral