SEN virus infection influences the pathological findings in liver but does not affect the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepatitis C and liver cirrhosis.
OBJECTIVE
This investigation compared the histological findings in the livers of chronic hepatitis C patients who were or were not co-infected with SEN virus (SEN-V) to determine the histological and clinical characteristics of SEN-V infection in Japan.


METHODS
Three hundred and ninety-two patients with hepatitis C virus-associated chronic hepatitis (CH) or liver cirrhosis (LC) were included in the study. Serum samples were tested for the presence of SEN-V DNA by nested polymerase chain reaction. The liver biopsy specimen of each patient was examined and scores were assigned to indicate the severity of each of the following features: inflammatory cell infiltration in the periportal, parenchymal, and portal areas; F stage; portal sclerotic change; perivenular fibrosis; pericellular fibrosis; damage to the bile ducts; steatosis and irregular regeneration of hepatocytes (IR).


RESULTS
Of the 473 patients, 194 (41.0%) were positive for SEN-V DNA. The rate of progression of F stage correlated with SEN-V DNA positivity. The blood biochemical parameters did not differ significantly between the SEN-V DNA-positive and -negative patients. The histological features of the livers of SEN-V DNA-positive patients included more severe parenchymal inflammatory cell infiltration and more IR. In particular, among those at the F2, F3 and F4 stages, the degree of IR of the SEN-V DNA-positive patients was significantly greater than that of the SEN-V DNA-negative patients. The cumulative probability of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence and survival rate did not differ between the SEN-V DNA-positive and-negative patients.


CONCLUSIONS
SEN-V co-infection may influence the histopathological features of the livers of patients with type C CH and LC but does not affect the outcome of patients with type C chronic liver disease.
Moriyama
Mitsuhiko
M
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nihon University School of Medicine, 30-1 Oyaguchi kamimachi, Itabashiku, Tokyo 173-8610, Japan. moriyama@med.nihon-u.ac.jp
Mikuni
Morio
M
Matsumura
Hiroshi
H
Nakamura
Hitomi
H
Oshiro
Shyu
S
Aoki
Hiroshi
H
Shimizu
Toshihiro
T
Yamagami
Hiroaki
H
Shioda
Atsuo
A
Kaneko
Miki
M
Tanaka
Naohide
N
Arakawa
Yasuyuki
Y
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001483:Base Sequence; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004266:DNA Virus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004267:DNA Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D011336:Probability; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015996:Survival Rate
D004279:DNA, Viral