Serological and histological findings in infection and transmission of GBV-C/HGV to macaques

• Published in: Journal of medical virology 2000-01, Vol.60 (1), p.28-33
• Main Authors: Cheng, Yun, Zhang, Wen-zhi, Li, Jin, Li, Bo-an, Zhao, Jin-min, Gao, Rong, Xin, Shao-jie, Mao, Pan-y, Cao, Yang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alanine Transaminase - blood; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Disease Models, Animal; Experimental viral diseases and models; Flaviviridae - immunology; Flaviviridae - pathogenicity; GBV-C/HGV; Hepatitis Antibodies - blood; Hepatitis, Viral, Animal - immunology; Hepatitis, Viral, Animal - pathology; Hepatitis, Viral, Animal - transmission; Hepatitis, Viral, Animal - virology; Hepatitis, Viral, Human - transmission; Hepatitis, Viral, Human - virology; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; In Situ Hybridization; infection and transmission models; Infectious diseases; Liver - pathology; Liver - virology; Macaca; macaques; Medical sciences; mild and self-limited hepatitis; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Viral - blood; Viral diseases; Viral Envelope Proteins - immunology; Viremia - virology; Virulence
• ISSN: 0146-6615; 1096-9071
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-9071(200001)60:1<28::AID-JMV5>3.0.CO;2-S

Seven healthy macaques were inoculated with the GBV‐C/HGV‐RNA serum from a non‐A‐E hepatitis patient. The serology and pathology of the liver in the animals were observed. The results indicated that all inoculated animals were infected with a GBV‐C/HGV‐RNA viremia and had mildly abnormal alanine transaminase levels during the infectious period. The histology, immuno‐histochemistry, and in situ hybridization in the liver tissues of the inoculated animals also showed that there was a very mild hepatitis with the positive antigenic expression and the genome of GBV‐C/HGV‐NS5 in hepatocytes. The pathological changes in the infected animals appeared to become normal whether or not GBV‐C/HGV‐RNA viremia persisted. There is a possibility that the mild virulence of the GBV‐C/HGV to the host became harmless with time after inoculation. Infection and the transmission of the GBV‐C/HGV virus in the macaques provides an appropriate animal model and new information about GBV‐C/HGV infection in both humans and animals. It is possible that this virus is a mild and self‐limited pathogenic agent to the hepatic cells of primates. J. Med. Virol. 60:28–33, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.