Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0019158 (hepatitis)
 30,205 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The aim of our study was to evaluate whether a negative HCV test of the first generation (HCV-ELISA 1) using the antigen C100-3 excludes chronic HCV infection, or whether patients exist who are negative for antibodies to C100-3 in spite of chronic hepatitis C. 27 patients with histologically proven chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis, all of whom were HCV-ELISA 1 negative, were tested by the HCV test systems of the second generation (Ortho-HCV-ELISA 2 and Chiron-HCV-RIBA 2) based on the distinct HCV antigens 5-1-1, C100-3, C33c and C22-3. To determine the presence of viremia, serum samples were also tested for HCV-RNA with "nested" PCR. 10 of 27 patients proved to be persistently negative when tested with the second generation assays. One patient showed low grade reactivity by HCV-ELISA 2, but non-reactivity by HCV-RIBA 2. In none of these 11 patients was HCV-RNA detected. 16 (60%) of 27 patients negative with HCV-ELISA 1 were positive with HCV-ELISA 2. HCV-RIBA 2 detected antibodies to the structural core antigen C22-3 in all of these 16 patients and antibodies to the non-structural antigen C33c in 14 of them, while antibodies to 5-1-1 or C100-3 were not found in any of these cases. 10 (63%) of the 16 HCV-ELISA 1 negative, but HCV-ELISA 2 and HCV-RIBA 2 positive patients were positive for HCV-RNA by "nested" PCR.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Second generation hepatitis-C virus test and polymerase chain reaction in anti-C 100 negative patients with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis]. 131 1

In a prospective study of posttransfusion hepatitis, 14 patients who were diagnosed with posttransfusion hepatitis C were enrolled randomly for the study of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in saliva. Saliva and serum samples were collected on the same day. Spouses of 11 married patients were also tested for anti-C100 and HCV RNA. Paired serum and saliva samples were tested for HCV RNA by a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Two primer pairs specific for the non-coding region of HCV were used for the PCR and a oligonucleotide sequence between the primers was used as the probe for Southern hybridization. Six patients were positive for HCV RNA by first round PCR amplification and an additional four patients were detected after second round PCR. All patients were negative for HCV RNA in saliva after first round PCR, while seven were positive after second round PCR amplification. All seven patients were positive for HCV RNA in paired serum samples. HCV RNA was detectable in saliva from 1 week to 38 months after the onset of hepatitis. All spouses were negative for anti-C100 and HCV RNA. We conclude that HCV RNA is present in the saliva of approximately half of patients with acute and chronic hepatitis C, and the presence of HCV RNA correlates with HCV viremia. The efficiency of HCV transmission is low among spouses.
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PMID:Hepatitis C virus RNA in saliva of patients with posttransfusion hepatitis and low efficiency of transmission among spouses. 131 67

Sera from 103 patients were tested for hepatitis C virus RNA by nested polymerase chain reaction assay. Using primers from the highly conserved 5'-untranslated region, we detected hepatitis C virus RNA in 67 (88.2%) of 76 patients positive for antibody to hepatitis C virus by both second-generation and neutralization enzyme immunoassays. Hepatitis C virus RNA was detected in 93% of patients who had been infected for 10 yr or less and in 89% of those who had been infected for longer than 10 yr. Hepatitis C virus RNA was detected in all patients with chronic hepatitis, active cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma and in 50% of those with nonspecific reactive hepatitis or inactive cirrhosis. Hepatitis C virus RNA was not detected in sera from 22 patients negative for antibody to hepatitis C virus or in 5 patients positive for antibody to hepatitis C virus by second-generation but not by neutralization enzyme immunoassay. Using primers from the less conserved nonstructural region 4, we detected hepatitis C virus RNA at a lower frequency, in 66% of patients who were positive for antibody to hepatitis C virus by both second-generation and neutralization enzyme immunoassays. The detection rate was higher in patients with frequent parenteral exposure. Our study showed that hepatitis C viremia can be detected in most patients with hepatitis C virus infection, including those with long-standing infection or advanced liver disease.
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PMID:Hepatitis C viremia in patients with hepatitis C virus infection. 131 37

Serial serum samples from cardiac patients with a history of chronic or resolved post-transfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis were analyzed by a combination of cDNA synthesis and the polymerase chain reaction (cDNA/PCR) to amplify HCV RNA. Analysis of sera drawn after the acute hepatitis episode from 8 of the patients who had an acute, resolving HCV infection showed no detectable levels of HCV RNA when primers from the NS3 region were used. Evaluation of these sera with primers from the 5'-untranslated (5'-UT) region revealed that one patient was positive for HCV RNA. Further analysis of serial serum samples available from two of these patients indicated that a resolved infection was associated with a disappearance of detectable HCV RNA after a peak level during the acute phase of the disease. In contrast, post-acute samples from 4 of 6 patients with symptomatic acute HCV infection evolving to chronicity were positive for HCV RNA using primers from the NS3 region, however, upon retesting with primers from the 5'-UT region, all 6 patients were found to be positive. Analysis of serial serum samples from 2 of these patients showed the persistence of HCV RNA in 70% of the samples. These two patients were subsequently treated with interferon alpha-2b. One patient resolved his disease and normalized his aminotransferase level during treatment and thereafter, while the other relapsed upon cessation of treatment. In these two patients, normalization of ALT levels was consistent with the absence of HCV RNA while relapse of disease was confirmed by the reappearance of detectable levels of HCV RNA. These results indicate the utility of HCV RNA as a marker for persisting HCV viremia and in differentiating patients with ongoing active HCV infection from those with an acute resolving disease.
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PMID:Detection of hepatitis C viral RNA by the polymerase chain reaction in serum of patients with post-transfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis. 131 77

Aplastic anemia is a rare, life-threatening disease of unknown etiology, with unusually high prevalence in Thailand. It is sometimes associated with non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH). The hepatitis C virus (HCV), one of the causes of NANBH, is similar to flaviviridiae, a family of viruses many of whose members cause acute bone marrow suppression. To test the hypothesis that HCV viremia is associated with aplastic anemia among patients in Thailand, we compared 53 untransfused hospitalized aplastic anemia patients and 39 untransfused controls hospitalized for other conditions. We used the polymerase chain reaction to identify HCV viremia in three (5.7%) untransfused patients and two (5.1%) untransfused controls (P = 1.0, by Fisher's two-tailed exact test). Although our data do not exclude the possibility that a small subset of aplastic anemia cases are precipitated by HCV, we conclude that HCV viremia is not generally associated with aplastic anemia in Thailand. Our results also imply that the prevalence of HCV viremia may be unexpectedly high among untransfused persons in Thailand, a hypothesis that should be tested in other populations.
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PMID:High prevalence of hepatitis C viremia among aplastic anemia patients and controls from Thailand. 131 6

The prevalence of hepatitis-C virus (HCV) infection was investigated in a group of children with chronic post-transfusion hepatitis using a first- and second-generation HCV-antibody ELISA, 2 confirmatory tests (a second-generation recombinant immunoblot assay and a line immunoassay) as well as an HCV-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In 33% of the children, clear discrepancies were observed between the 4 different HCV-antibody detection assays, indicating that the serological diagnosis of HCV infection is still problematic. HCV RNA was detectable by PCR in only 69% of the antibody positive patients, which may be due to a fluctuation of viraemia during the course of infection. Such a fluctuation was demonstrated in 6 patients from whom serum samples drawn at different times were investigated. In contrast, in 8 of the 15 seronegative patients, HCV infection was identified only by PCR, although the hepatitis had already persisted for more than 2 years. Antibody assays and PCR together detected HCV infection in about 90% of the patients with chronic hepatitis. When markers of hepatitis B infection were also investigated, only 6% of the cases remained undiagnosed.
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PMID:Prevalence of hepatitis-C virus infection in children with chronic post-transfusion hepatitis. 132 3

The identification of hepatitis C virus, based on DNA amplification, gives a precise estimation of the prevalence of the most frequent agent of NANB hepatitis. The first ELISA allowing the detection of anti-HCV antibodies, had too many false positive results and required the development of more sensitive and specific assays to confirm its results. PCR, allowing the hepatitis C virus diagnosis by showing directly HCV RNA sequences, offers a complementary approach to immunoserological tests. In blood donors with anti-HCV antibodies and with indeterminate or negative confirmatory tests, the finding of HCV RNA sequences reveals serum infectivity. During acute hepatitis, the delay in the appearance of anti HCV hampers acute phase diagnosis. The early detection of HCV RNA in peripheral blood, confirms the diagnosis and opens up therapeutic possibilities. In chronic hepatitis, the diagnosis of seronegative forms may only be resolved by PCR. Moreover, the presence of HCV RNA in peripheral blood represents the only marker of on-going viral replication and coincides with the severity of liver damage. During treatment with interferon, the follow up of HCV RNA sequences makes it possible to monitor its efficacy. The search for HCV RNA sequences directly in liver tissue shows that HCV may replicate in the liver in the absence of viremia. The presence of HCV RNA in the liver and the serum of liver transplanted patients is essential for the etiological diagnosis and management of hepatitis and bone marrow failure occurring after transplantation. Epidemiological study using PCR is a major tool in documenting vertical transmission between mother and child. Finally, PCR is important for the analysis of the HCV genome. Thus, in France there are at least three main strains, one close to the US prototype, the other close to the Japanese strain, possibly responsible for a more severe illness and a third one distinct from the previous two. However, its limits and constraints imply that PCR must not be considered as a routine assay. This emphasizes the need for more simple and rapid diagnostic tests, allowing the detection of HCV antigens and, as in hepatitis B, the progressive unravelling of the life cycle of HCV.
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PMID:[Importance of PCR in the diagnosis of hepatitis C]. 132 94

The influence of viremia on hepatic injury in patients infected with hepatitis C virus was examined by analysis of the relationship between alanine aminotransferase activity and the amount of hepatitis C virus RNA in sequential serum samples from I untreated patient with acute hepatitis C and 3 untreated patients with chronic hepatitis C. Semiquantitative analysis by the competitive-reverse-transcription/polymerase-chain-reaction method indicated that the quantity of hepatitis C virus RNA in the serum affected the disease activities of acute and chronic hepatitis C through their natural clinical courses in all these patients. The nucleotide sequence encoding the putative envelope region of the viral genome in the patient with acute hepatitis C was examined. Blood samples taken serially at 2 times of exacerbation of the hepatitis revealed 2 nucleotide mutations, resulting in changes of predicted amino acid residues. This finding suggests that nucleotide mutations in the envelope region of the viral genome may be responsible for the recurrent hepatic injury attributed to recurrence of viremia in patients with hepatitis C. From these aspects, the serial divergence of the virus genome in infected individuals, especially in the region encoding the viral envelope protein, may possibly play an important role in developing chronic infection of hepatitis C virus.
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PMID:Correlation between the serum level of hepatitis C virus RNA and disease activities in acute and chronic hepatitis C. 133 Sep 30

To evaluate the effect of interferon-alpha treatment on the levels of serum aminotransferase (sALT) and of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA, we studied 19 patients with chronic non-A, non-B (NANB) hepatitis. Before therapy, 14 patients were positive by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers deduced from the 5'-non-coding region of the HCV genome. Serum HCV-RNA had disappeared in 12 (85.7%) of them by the end of therapy, but then reappeared 6 months later in 4 of these 12 patients. A marked improvement in sALT was seen in 5 of the 8 patients with sustained HCV-RNA disappearance, but not in the 4 patients with only transient HCV-RNA negativity. Pre-treatment levels of hepatitis C viremia, analyzed by single PCR and dot blot hybridization, ranged from 2 x 10(3) to 2 x 10(8) copies/ml, and were below 2 x 10(5) copies/ml in patients with a complete response to interferon therapy. These results suggest that this HCV-RNA assay, combined with sALT testing, may be useful for estimation of the long-term efficacy of interferon therapy in hepatitis C.
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PMID:Detection of hepatitis C virus RNA by nested polymerase chain reaction in sera of patients with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis treated with interferon. 133 4

The sera of 36 French patients with post-transfusional and sporadic non-A, non-B chronic hepatitis were investigated, for HBV and HCV infections using a combination of serological and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. Anti-HCV was detected in 75% (27/36) of the patients by ELISA1 and/or RIBA2 tests. HCV-RNA sequences were found in 75% (27/36) of the sera by a single step PCR, using a set of primers located in the 5' non-coding region. Altogether, 89% (32/36) of the patients were found positive with serological and/or molecular tests. Among the positive patients, 68% (22/32) were found positive for both anti-HCV and HCV-RNA, 16% (5/32) and 16% (5/32) were found positive for either anti-HCV or HCV-RNA, respectively. HBV-DNA sequences were detected in two patients associated to the HCV viraemia. This study confirms the extremely high prevalence of HCV infection in NANB chronic hepatitis in France. It also shows possible co-infection by HCV and HBV in hepatitis.
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PMID:Serum hepatitis C virus RNA and hepatitis B virus DNA in non-A, non-B post-transfusional and sporadic chronic hepatitis. 133 7


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