title: Correlation between salivary anti-HCV antibodies and HCV RNA in saliva and salivary glands of patients with chronic hepatitis C.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To investigate the correlation between anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies in saliva and detection of HCV RNA in saliva and salivary glands of patients with chronic hepatitis C.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 180 samples of saliva (131 non-stimulated and 49 stimulated) from 133 patients with chronic hepatitis C were tested by ELISA for presence of anti-HCV antibodies. Results were compared with the detection of HCV RNA in saliva and salivary glands samples. Pearson's chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests were performed for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Anti-HCV antibodies could be detected in 47/180 (26.1%) saliva samples. In 11/47 (23.5%) of these, HCV RNA was also detected. From the 133/180 (73.9%) saliva samples with undetectable anti-HCV antibodies, 49/133 (36.8%) were positive for HCV RNA at least in one saliva sample. From the 64 patients from whom salivary gland samples were available, 17/64 (26.6%) had detectable anti-HCV antibodies in saliva, from which 2/17 (11.8%) also had HCV RNA in the salivary gland. From the 47/64 (73.4%) cases negative for anti-HCV antibodies in saliva, 10/47 (21.3%) were positive for HCV RNA in salivary gland.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taken together, our results suggest that there is no correlation between the presence of anti-HCV antibodies in saliva and the detection of HCV RNA in saliva and salivary glands in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Nevertheless, as there was a statistically significant difference between detection of anti-HCV antibodies and HCV RNA in stimulated saliva, our study points toward the need for new research on mechanisms of HCV shedding in saliva.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Surgery, School of Dentistry, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
authors.forename: Patrícia Carlos
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Caldeira
authors.forename: Karla Rachel
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Oliveira e Silva
authors.forename: Tarcília Aparecida
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Soraya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: de Mattos Camargo Grossmann
authors.forename: Rosângela
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.forename: Maria Auxiliadora Vieira do
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Carmo
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012463:Saliva / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000821:virology*; D017201:Virus Shedding
chemical_list: D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D012367:RNA, Viral