PERSISTENCE OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS-RNA IN ESTABLISHED HUMAN HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA CELL-LINES

The persistence of the viral RNA of hepatitis C virus (HCV) was examin ed in 13 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and two hepaloblastoma cell li nes by reverse transcription followed by the polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). HCV RNA was detected in three HCC lines (JHH-1, JHH-4, and JHH-6) and negative-strand viral RNA was found in JHH-4, indicating th at there is a putative replicative intermediate of HCV in JHH-4 cells. To rule out the possibility of contamination, the partial nucleotide sequences of HCV-specific PCR products of these three cell lines were determined. The clone from JHH-1 belonged to genotype 1 (1a or 1b), an d the clones from JHH-4 and JHH-6 belonged to genotype 2b, but their s equences differed from each other. These cell lines may be useful for studies related to HCV. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.