Hepatitis C virus quasispecies in plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells of treatment naïve chronically infected patients.
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 45 treatment naïve, HIV-negative, chronically hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients were analyzed for the presence of HCV RNA. Viral RNA was detected in 73% of the studied patients. Single-strand conformation polymorphism assays and sequence analysis of the HCV 5'untranslated regions amplified from RNA recovered from both Plasma and PBMCs suggested virus compartmentalization in 57.6% of patients studied. In summary, our study presents evidence that HCV RNA can be found in PBMCs of treatment naïve chronically infected patients that are not immunocompromised or co-infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.
Vera-Otarola
J
J
Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Centro de Investigaciones Médicas, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Barría
M I
MI
León
U
U
Marsac
D
D
Carvallo
P
P
Soza
A
A
López-Lastra
M
M
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D001483:Base Sequence; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010949:Plasma / Q000821:virology*; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D012367:RNA, Viral