Drift in the hypervariable region of the hepatitis C virus during 27 years in two patients.
Serial serum samples were obtained over a 27-year period from a hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patient and from a nurse who appeared to become infected by this patient. The hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) and 5'noncoding region (5'NCR) of the HCV genome were amplified from each serum sample by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and cloned. In the first serum specimen from the patient and the first two serum specimens from the nurse, most of the 20 clones from each serum sample had one common sequence in the HVR1 gene. All later serum samples contained a heterogeneous mixture of HCV quasispecies. The uniformity of the HVR1 sequence in the early samples and the emergence of greater diversity in later serum samples is consistent with the apparent transmission of HCV between the patient and nurse and the eventual emergence of other quasispecies as the virus replicated in the new host. In addition, the immune globulin given to the nurse may have been responsible for some of the HCV quasispecies changes observed in her serum.
Gao
Guang
G
Division of Emerging and Transfusion Transmitted Diseases, Office of Blood Research and Review, Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Buskell
Zelma
Z
Seeff
Leonard
L
Tabor
Edward
E
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012367:RNA, Viral; D013997:Time Factors
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D012367:RNA, Viral