title: Is hepatitis G/GB virus-C virus hepatotropic? Detection of hepatitis G/GB virus-C viral RNA in liver and serum.
abstract: The recently identified hepatitis G virus (HGV, also named GB virus-C, GBV-C) appears to have similarities to hepatitis C virus and other flaviviridae. To better understand its clinical significance and hepatotropism, we collected liver tissue and matched serum samples from 56 patients undergoing liver transplantation. HGV/GBV-C RNA was detected by reverse transcription-nested PCR, using primers from the relatively conserved 5' noncoding region of the genome to detect HGV/GBV-C RNA and the amount was semiquantitatively estimated by serial 10-fold endpoint dilution. The presence and amount of HCV RNA was estimated by the same methodology. Seventeen patients (30%) had HGV/GBV-C RNA detectable either in liver or in serum, including two of three with cryptogenic liver disease. Interestingly, 5 of 17 (29%) patients had HGV/GBV-C RNA in serum but not liver, even with repeated testing of hepatic RNA from different portions of the liver. Furthermore, the titer of HGV/GBV-C RNA was significantly lower in liver than in serum in most samples (mean log titer, 1.33 vs. 2.56, P < 0.05). In contrast, all 21 patients with HCV RNA in serum also had the virus detectable in liver. In five patients coinfected with HCV and HGV/GBV-C, the mean titer of HCV RNA in liver was higher than that in serum (log titer, 2.8 vs. 3.0, P > 0.05). Thus, our results suggest that HGV/GBV-C is probably not hepatotropic and may replicate predominantly in sites other than the liver. These findings brings into question the role of HGV in causing significant liver disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Louis School of Medicine, Missouri 63104, USA.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramrakhiani
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Neuschwander-Tetri
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Di Bisceglie
mesh_terms: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions / Q000235:genetics; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D018523:Tropism
chemical_list: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D012367:RNA, Viral