[Preliminary study on pathogenicity of hepatitis G virus].
OBJECTIVE
To study the clinical, enzymatic and liver pathological changes in patients with hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection.


METHODS
RT- nested PCR was applied to detect HGV RNA in 368 patients with hepatic diseases. The liver biopsy tissue from one liver cirrhosis patient with simple HGV infection was examined.


RESULTS
Simple HGV RNA positive were found in 7 cases of 71 acute hepatitis jaundice, in 22 cases of 155 chronic hepatitis and in 3 cases of 51 liver cirrhosis. The immunohistochemistry of the liver biopsy tissue from a liver cirrhosis patient showed HGV NS5 antigen positive. However, HGV infection might occur simply or in combination with hepatitis B or C virus or super infected.


CONCLUSIONS
HGV RNA could be detected in acute hepatitis jaundice, chronic hepatitis, hepatitis B or C carriers, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HGV is proved to be a hepatotropic virus by pathological examination and immunohistochemistry, the virus located in the cytoplasm of the liver cells. It may cause chronic hepatitis and even liver cirrhosis, so HGV is pathogenic to liver tissue.
Liao
S
S
Department of Digestion, Tiantan Affiliated Hospital of Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100050, China.
Zhan
M
M
Yang
Z
Z
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D018178:Flaviviridae Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D029407:GB virus C / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000821:virology; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000821:virology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D012367:RNA, Viral