title: Hepatitis G virus infection in patients with chronic non-A-E hepatitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To elucidate the role of hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection in chronic non-A-E hepatitis and sequence the partial NS5 genome of HGV isolated from the serum of a Chinese patient with chronic non-A-E hepatitis
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum samples of patients with chronic non-A-E hepatitis were collected and total nucleic acids were extracted and subjected to reverse transcriptase-nested-polymerase chain reaction (RT-nested-PCR) using primers from the putative NS5 region of HGV genome. Then, 994bp cDNA was prepared from the positive serum, purified with electrophoresis of polyacrylamide gels, and directly sequenced using the dideoxy-mediated chain-termination method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HGV-RNA was detected in 1 of the 35 patients with chronic non-A-E hepatitis. Compared with the 2 HGV isolates (PNF2161 and R10291) obtained from American patients, the HGV NS5 gene of this Beijing isolate (HG-G) showed homology of 88.0% and 89.2% respectively. On the other hand, in comparison with the West African isolate (GBV-C), the Beijing isolate showed homology of 93.5%. The patient showed persistent increase of alanine transaminase, but normal levels were achieved after interferon therapy with persistent positive HGV RNA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HGV is one of the causes of chronic non-A-E hepatitis, but it may not be a very important cause. The nucleotide sequence of partial NS5 gene of HG-G was found to be highly homologous to the West Africa isolate.
authors.affiliation: Jin-Hong Chang, Lai Wei, Shao-Cai Du, Hao Wang, Yan Sun, Qi-Min Tao, Institute of Hepatology, People's Hospital, Beijing Medical University, Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Jin-Hong Chang, Lai Wei, Shao-Cai Du, Hao Wang, Yan Sun, Qi-Min Tao, Institute of Hepatology, People's Hospital, Beijing Medical University, Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Jin-Hong Chang, Lai Wei, Shao-Cai Du, Hao Wang, Yan Sun, Qi-Min Tao, Institute of Hepatology, People's Hospital, Beijing Medical University, Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Jin-Hong Chang, Lai Wei, Shao-Cai Du, Hao Wang, Yan Sun, Qi-Min Tao, Institute of Hepatology, People's Hospital, Beijing Medical University, Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Jin-Hong Chang, Lai Wei, Shao-Cai Du, Hao Wang, Yan Sun, Qi-Min Tao, Institute of Hepatology, People's Hospital, Beijing Medical University, Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Jin-Hong Chang, Lai Wei, Shao-Cai Du, Hao Wang, Yan Sun, Qi-Min Tao, Institute of Hepatology, People's Hospital, Beijing Medical University, Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: Q M
authors.initials: QM
authors.lastname: Tao
keywords: DNA, viral; Genes, viral; Genome, viral; Hepatitis G; Non-A–E hepatitis; Polymerase chain reaction; RNA, viral