Negative strand of hepatitis C virus RNA in the liver of patients with chronic hepatitis C after interferon treatment.
In patients receiving interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis C, serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA often reverts from an undetectable to a detectable form after completion of treatment. Detection of the negative strand of HCV-RNA in liver tissue is regarded as an index of viral proliferation. Therefore, we investigated changes in the hepatic negative-strand HCV-RNA following interferon therapy to determine whether this parameter could predict the long-term response to treatment. The subjects of this study were 27 patients with chronic active hepatitis C. Serum positive-strand and hepatic tissue negative-strand HCV-RNA were detected using polymerase chain reaction. At the completion of interferon treatment, serum HCV-RNA was not detected in 21 patients. One year following treatment it remained undetectable in 14 of these patients but it had reverted to a detectable form in seven. The 14 patients in whom hepatic negative-strand RNA was not detected between 2 weeks and 12 months after treatment, had not relapsed after another year. In the 13 remaining patients, negative-strand RNA was found in liver tissue and serum RNA either reverted to a detectable form or remained detectable throughout. From these findings, we conclude that the detection of negative-strand HCV-RNA in liver tissue 2 weeks after the completion of interferon therapy is useful for predicting the long-term effect of therapy.
Tomimatsu
M
M
Department of Medicine II, Tokyo Women's Medical College, Daini Hospital, Japan.
Endou
H
H
Takahashi
H
H
Iga
D
D
Kato
Y
Y
Tamai
N
N
Nakajima
H
H
Okano
A
A
Mori
H
H
Hisatomi
H
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D012367:RNA, Viral; D007372:Interferons