DETECTION OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS-RNA IN CIRCULATING IMMUNE-COMPLEXES BYRT-PCR

Background/Aims: We investigate whether hepatitis C virus (HCV) forms a circulating immune complex (CIC) in patients with chronic HCV infect ion. Materials and Methods: We examined HCV-RNA immunoprecipitated wit h anti-human IgG, A and M antibodies by reverse transcription-polymera se chain I reaction. Results: In thirty-nine (91%) of 43 patients, com posed of 35 chronic hepatitis (CH) and 8 liver cirrhosis (LC), HCV-RNA was detected in the CIC. All 43 patients analyzed were classified int o the following three categories; HCV-RNA was detected only in the sup ernatant (S pattern, 4 patients), both in the supernatant and the prec ipitate (SP pattern, 27 patients), and only in the precipitate (P patt ern, 12 patients). SP pattern was most common in chronic HCV infection , and the frequency of SP pattern decreased with the progression of Li ver disease. P pattern was significantly more frequent in patients wit h higher gamma-globulin Levels, histologically indicated LC, and antib ody to HCV envelope protein. Conclusion: We found that HCV formed a CI C in most patients with chronic HCV infection, and that the formation of CIC might be related to the stage of chronic HCV injection.