title: Correlation of viral load with bone marrow and hematological changes in pale patients with chronic hepatitis C virus.
abstract: Liver is considered the target of hepatitis C virus (HCV), which has marked tropism for hepatocytes. In this study, we investigated changes in bone marrow (BM) and blood and their correlation with viremia level in 30 pale patients with chronic HCV who were selected before antiviral therapy. Patients with BM positive for HCV RNA (53.33 %) showed moderate to high viremia, while patients with BM negative for RNA (46.67 %) had low viremia. There was no significant difference in the liver histopathology between patients with HCV-RNA-negative and positive BM. Patients with BM positive for HCV RNA showed significant changes in BM cells, including the degree of immune complex deposition and alterations in peripheral blood counts compared to patients with BM negative for RNA and healthy controls, suggesting that BM changes could be a sequel or a reservoir for HCV viremia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
authors.forename: Abdel Raouf
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Abou El Azm
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: El-Bate
authors.forename: Lobna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Abo-Ali
authors.forename: Nagwa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mansour
authors.forename: Hussin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ghoraba
authors.forename: Mohamed Labib
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Salem
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019562:Viral Load; D014766:Viremia / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral