title: Osteoprogenitor cells and osteoblasts are targets for hepatitis C virus.
abstract: The goal of this study was to determine whether human osteoblasts might harbor the hepatitis C virus. We tested for positive-strand and negative-strand (replicative) hepatitis C virus RNA by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, by in situ reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction for intracellular localization of the hepatitis C virus, and by amplicon sequencing in in vitro differentiated mature osteoblasts from STRO-1+ osteoprogenitor cells from patients with chronic hepatitis C and from healthy individuals. We only detected the hepatitis C virus genome in STRO-1+ cells and mature osteoblasts from carriers with chronic hepatitis C, and we found hepatitis C virus negative strands expressed sporadically in these patients. Using in situ hepatitis C virus reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, we determined that the percentage of infected carrier osteoblasts ranged from 8.0-15.3%. These data provide evidence of hepatitis C virus presence and replication in human osteoprogenitors and osteoblasts, which may have important implications for bone allograft processing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, SMZO Donauspital, Langobardenstrasse 122, A-1220 Vienna, Austria. rainer.kluger@smz.magwien.gv.at
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kluger
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mühlberger
authors.forename: Oskar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Christian Ernst
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Alfred
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.forename: Borislava G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Pavlova
mesh_terms: D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology*; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000821:virology*; D011336:Probability; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D012016:Reference Values; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral