Tissue immunodetection of c100 hepatitis C virus antigen in major thalassemic patients.
OBJECTIVE
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) detection in the livers of chronically infected patients remains a debatable issue. To determine the significance of hepatic expression of hepatitis C viral antigen c100, an immunohistochemical assay was performed in 113 young thalassemics with chronic HCV infection.


METHODS
One hundred and thirteen patients were seropositive for antibody to HCV by second-generation testing. The monoclonal antibody TORDJI-22 was used in an alkaline phosphatase 3-step staining method, and any possible association between the results of HCV immunodetection and various clinicopathologic variables was investigated by univariate and multivariate statistical analysis. In 36 cases, post-therapy liver biopsy specimens were also studied.


RESULTS
HCV c100 antigen was detected in 62% of all pretherapy samples, exclusively in the cytoplasm of rather few hepatocytes. Its expression was positively associated with male gender (p = 0.02) as well as with rather advanced age (p = 0.03) and was frequently accompanied by low necroinflammatory scores (according to the modified HAI grading). At the end of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) therapy, the immunoreactive prevalence of c100 antigen decreased significantly (pF = 0.002).


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that hepatic expression of c100 antigen is detected in a considerable percentage of thalassemics but it is not likely to provide information concerning the viral load in the infected liver. IFN therapy appears to reduce the hepatic expression of this viral antigen in thalassemic patients.
Nakopoulou
L
L
Department of Pathology, Athens University Medical School, Greece. lnakopou@cc.uoa.gr
Manolaki
N
N
Lazaris
A C
AC
Kostaridou
S
S
Gakiopoulou
H
H
Davaris
P
P
Kattamis
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D001706:Biopsy; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*
D000956:Antigens, Viral; C064544:C100 protein, hepatitis C virus; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins