2008, Number 41
<< Back Next >>
Med Univer 2008; 10 (41)
Virus persistence in hepatitis C: lifelong infection despite therapy?
Fujii L, Gallegos OJF
Language: English
References: 28
Page: 216-224
PDF size: 335.71 Kb.
ABSTRACT
Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a common and growing problem in the world and is currently the most common reason for liver transplantation in the United States and Europe. Current therapy includes a combination of pegylated interferon and ribavirin, which has been shown to produce a sustained viral response in greater than 50% of patients. There is increasing evidence that supports the concept of occult or persistent HCV infection within hepatocytes and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) after spontaneous or therapy-induced sustained viral response defined as absence of detectable viremia at least 6 months after end of therapy. This may have some clinical importance as patients with persistent HCV may have increased risk of recurrence or extrahepatic manifestations of the infection that will alter their ultimate prognosis. Therefore, this article serves as a review of the current literature in HCV persistence in both hepatic and extrahepatic sites and their clinical implications.
REFERENCES
Antonelli A, Ferri C, Galeazzi M, Giannitti C, et al. HCV infection: pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, and therapy. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2008;26(1 Suppl 48):S39-47.
Alter MJ, Kruszon-Moran D, Nainan OV, McQuillan GM, et al. The prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the United States, 1988 through 1994. N Engl J Med. 1999; 341:556-62.
Hoofnagle JH, Seeff LB. Peginterferon and ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C. N Engl J Med. 2006;355:2444-51.
Alberti A, Benvegnu L. Hepatitis C. In: Rodés J, Benhamou JP, Blei A, Reichen J, Rizzetto M, editors. Textbook of Hepatology: From Basic Science to Clinical Practice, 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007;pp:881-92.
Laskus T, Radkowski M, Wilkinson J, Vargas H, Rakela J. The origin of hepatitis C virus reinfecting transplanted livers: serum-derived versus peripheral blood mononuclear cell-derived virus. J Infect Dis 2001;185:417-21.
Araya V, Rakela J, Wright T. Hepatitis C after orthotopic liver transplantation. Gastroenterology 1997;112:575-82.
Lerat H and Hollinger FB. Hepatitis C virus occult infection or occult HCV RNA detection? J Infect Dis 2004;189:3-6.
Gallegos-Orozco JF, Rakela J, Rosati MJ, Vargas HE, Balan V. Persistence of hepatitis C virus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of sustained viral responders to pegylated interferon and ribavirin therapy. Dig Dis Sci 2008;53:2564-8.
Castillo I, Rodriguez-Iñigo E, Bartolome J, et al. Hepatitis C virus replicates in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with occult hepatitis C infection. Gut 2005;54:682-5.
McHutchison JG, Poynard T, Esteban-Mur R, et al. Hepatic HCV RNA before and after treatment with interferon alone or combined with ribavirin. Hepatology 2002;35:688-93.
Shindo M, Arai K, Sokawa Y, Okuno T. Hepatic hepatitis C virus RNA as a predictor of long-term response to interferon-alpha therapy. Ann Intern Med 1995;127:875-81.
Radkowski M, Gallegos-Orozco JF, Jablonska J, et al. Persistence of hepatitis C virus in patients successfully treated for chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology 2005;41:106-14.
Castillo I, Pardo M, Bartolome J, et al. Occult hepatitis C infection in patients in whom the etiology of persistently abnormal results of liver-function tests in unknown. J Infect Dis 2004;189:7-14.
Pardo M, Lopez-Alcorocho JM, Rodriguez-Inigo E, Castillo I, Carreno V. Comparative study between occult hepatitis C virus infection and chronic hepatitis C. J Viral Hepat 2007;14:36-40.
Quiroga JA, Llorente S, Castillo I, Rodriguez-Inigo E, et al. Cellular immune responses associated with occult hepatitis C virus infection of the liver. J Virol 2006;80:10972-9.
Phan TNQ, MacParland SA, Mulrooney PM, Cooksley H, et al. Hepatitis C virus persistence after spontaneous or treatment-induced resolution of hepatitis C. J Virol 2004;78:5867-74.
Laskus T, Radkowski M, Wang LF, Cianciara J, et al. Hepatitis C virus negative strand RNA is not detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and viral sequences are identical to those in serum: a case against extrahepatic replication. J Gen Virology 1997;78:2747-50.
Bernardin F, Tobler L, Walsh I, Williams JD, et al. Clearance of hepatitis C virus RNA from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of blood donors who spontaneously or therapeutically control their plasma viremia. Hepatology 2008;47:1446-52.
Kaiser P, Niederost B, Joos B, et al. Equal amounts of intracellular and virion-enclosed hepatitis C virus RNA are associated with peripheral-blood mononuclear cells. J Infect Dis 2006;194:1713-23.
Radkowski M, Wilkinson J, Nowicki M, et al. Search for Hepatitis C virus negative-strand RNA sequences and analysis of viral sequences in the central nervous system: evidence of replication. J Virol 2002;76:600-8.
Vargas HE, Laskus T, Radkowski M, et al. Detection of hepatitis C virus sequences in brain tissue obtained in recurrent hepatitis C after liver transplantation. Liver Transpl 2002;8:1014-9.
Bagaglio S, Cinque P, Racca S, et al. Hepatitis C virus populations in the plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and cerebrospinal fluid of HIV/hepatitis C virus co-infected patients. AIDS 2005;19(Suppl 3):S151-S65.
Lee WM, Polson JE, Carney DS, Sahin B, Gale M Jr. Reemergence of hepatitis C virus after 8.5 years in a patient with hypogammaglobulinemia: evidence for an occult viral reservoir. J Infect Dis 2005;192:1088-92.
Esaki T, Suzuki N, Yokoyama K, et al. Hepatocellular carcinoma in a patient with liver cirrhosis associated with negative serum HCV tests but positive liver tissue HCV RNA. Intern Med 2004;43:279-82.
Comar M, Dal Molin G, D’ Agaro P, Croce SL, Tiribelli C, Campello C. HBV, HCV, and TTV detection by in situ polymerase chain reaction could reveal occult infection in hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison with blood markers. J Clin Pathol 2006;59:526-9.
El-Serag HB, Hampel CY, Yeh C, Rabeneck L. Extrahepatic manifestations of hepatitis C among United States male veterans. Hepatology 2002;36:1439-45.
Gallegos-Orozco JF, Fuentes AP, Gerardo Argueta J, et al. Health-related quality of life and depression in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Arch Med Res 2003;34:124-9.
Forton DM, Allsop JM, Main J, Foster GR, Thomas HC, Taylor-Robinson SD. Evidence for cerebral effect of the hepatitis C virus. Lancet 2001;358:38-9.