title: Clinico-epidemiological study of GBV-C/HGV infection in Tokyo metropolitan, and Nanjing and Yanbian cities in the People's Republic of China.
abstract: In the present study, we compared the molecular epidemiology of GBV-C/HGV co-infection and the clinical profiles in patients diagnosed with either type B or type C hepatitis virus infection from Nanjing in Southeast China and Yanbian in Northeast China, with those at the Nihon University Hospital in Tokyo. The patients included 97 men in Nanjing, 66 men and women in Yanbian, and 249 men and women at the Nihon University Hospital. GBV-C/HGV RNA was detected using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction as described by Abe et al. The prevalence of GBV-C/HGV co-infection in Nanjing, Yanbian, and Tokyo was 18.8, 23.3, and 3.5% in type B liver diseases, respectively, and 3.6, 11.1, 7.3% in type C liver diseases, respectively. A comparison of background factors between GBV-C/HGV RNA-positive and -negative patients revealed no significant differences in any parameter between Nanjing, Yanbian, and Tokyo. A phylogenic tree analysis of nucleotide sequences showed that the Nanjing strain was closely related to the Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo isolates, while the Yanbian isolate was closely related to the Korean, Mongolia, and Tokyo strains. These isolates were classified to the East Asian type of genotype 3. The results of the phylogenic tree analysis suggests that the GBV-C/HGV isolates from China and Japan have a common origin. Therefore, the prevalence of GBV-C/HGV infection may be geographically determined, irrespective of racial differences.
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nihon University School of Medicine, 30-1 Oyaguci-Kamimachi, Itabashiku, 173-8610, Tokyo, Japan
authors.forename: Mitsuhiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moriyama
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zi-Yi
authors.forename: Wu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Longren
authors.forename: Wang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xueqing
authors.forename: Shuh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohshiro
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: Sagiri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ichijima
authors.forename: Kayo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwaguchi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sugitani
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Komiyama
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arakawa