Analysis of hepatitis G virus infection markers in blood donors and patients with hepatitis

• Published in: Journal of viral hepatitis 1999-11, Vol.6 (6), p.471-475
• Main Authors: Brojer, E., Grabarczyk, P., Kryczka, W., Kucharski, W., Kubicka, J., Z·upánska, B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; antiE2; Base Sequence; Biomarkers - blood; Blood Donors; Flaviviridae - genetics; Flaviviridae - immunology; Flaviviridae - isolation & purification; Hepatitis Antibodies - blood; Hepatitis G virus; hepatitis patients; Hepatitis, Viral, Human - virology; HGV; Humans; Molecular Sequence Data; Poland; RNA, Viral - blood; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Viral Envelope Proteins - immunology
• ISSN: 1352-0504; 1365-2893
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2893.1999.00159.x

The incidence and clinical significance of hepatitis G virus (HGV) is still not fully known. The aim of our study was to assess the frequency of HGV RNA and antibody to HGV E2 protein (anti‐E2) in Polish blood donors and patients with hepatitis, and to compare the sequence of HGV clones with those reported by others. Two‐hundred and nineteen blood donors and 83 patients with hepatitis were studied. HGV was detected in 3.2% and anti‐E2 in 24.2% of blood donors and in 26.5% and 8.4% of patients with hepatitis, respectively. HGV was detected as a co‐infection with HCV in four of 18 patients with chronic hepatitis, in four of 16 patients with acute hepatitis and in one of six patients with fulminant liver failure (FLF), and as a co‐infection with HBV in one of six patients with FLF and in three of 10 patients with chronic hepatitis. In non‐A–C hepatitis, eight of 23 patients with acute hepatitis and one of four patients with FLF were positive for HGV but all 10 patients with chronic cryptogenic hepatitis were negative. In the follow‐up studies of patients with HGV alone, a correlation with viraemia and clinical symptoms was observed in two patients, but in three others HGV RNA was detected in spite of clinical resolution. Two HGV clones were sequenced, and the sequence of the HGV helicase region of the HGV isolates from donor and patient were homologous to those described by others. Hence, the frequency of HGV RNA in blood donors is similar to that obtained in other countries but the anti‐E2 (marker of a past infection) frequency is higher. The incidence of HGV RNA and anti‐E2 in hepatitis patients suggests that HGV plays a role in liver pathology, but careful analysis of individual cases does not confirm this.