Quantitative Analysis of Hepatitis C Virus in Peripheral Blood and Liver: Replication Detected Only in Liver

Prior studies seeking evidence of viral replication in peripheral lymphocytes of hepatitis C virus (HCV)–infected patients have yielded conflicting results. This study sought to quantitatively determine whether a permissive HCV cell interaction could be detected in leukocytes from infected patients....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of infectious diseases 2001-10, Vol.184 (7), p.827-835
Main Authors: Boisvert, Judie, He, Xiao-Song, Cheung, Ramsey, Keeffe, Emmet B., Wright, Teresa, Greenberg, Harry B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
B lymphocytes
B-Lymphocytes - immunology
B-Lymphocytes - virology
Biological and medical sciences
Female
Hepacivirus
Hepacivirus - isolation & purification
Hepacivirus - physiology
Hepatitis C virus
Hepatitis C, Chronic - blood
Hepatitis C, Chronic - virology
Hepatocytes
Human viral diseases
Humans
Infectious diseases
Leukocytes
Leukocytes, Mononuclear - virology
Liver
Liver - virology
Lymphocyte Activation
Major Articles
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Polymerase chain reaction
Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction
RNA
RNA, Viral - analysis
T lymphocytes
Viral diseases
Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids
Viral hepatitis
Viral Load
Virus Replication
Viruses
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Summary:Prior studies seeking evidence of viral replication in peripheral lymphocytes of hepatitis C virus (HCV)–infected patients have yielded conflicting results. This study sought to quantitatively determine whether a permissive HCV cell interaction could be detected in leukocytes from infected patients. Peripheral leukocytes from chronically infected patients were purified and were tested for HCV RNA. The results show that virus load is highest in B cells. Other subsets of peripheral leukocytes consistently had very low levels of viral RNA or were negative. Negative-strand HCV was found only in hepatocytes. To determine whether HCV replication could be induced by activation, B cells from HCV-infected patients were stimulated in vitro. No HCV replicating in peripheral leukocytes was detected by a highly sensitive assay. If HCV replication occurs in the leukocyte subsets analyzed here, it is at extremely low levels or occurs under alternate physiological conditions
ISSN:0022-1899
1537-6613
DOI:10.1086/323391