SEQUENCE OF NONSTRUCTURAL REGION-3 AND REGION-5 OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS GENOMES FROM SPANISH PATIENTS - EXISTENCE OF A PREDOMINANT VARIANT RELATED TO TYPE 1B

Several hepatitis C viruses (HCV) have been described. In this study, the prevalence of HCV subtypes 1a, 1b, 2a and 2b has been studied by m eans of specific PCR in 93 serum samples of Spanish patients. Among th ese, the HCV-1b subtype was the most frequently detected (62%). Comple mentary DNA fragments from nonstructural region 3 (NS3) and 5 (NS5), o btained from serum samples of three Spanish patients, were amplified b y PCR and the products were cloned and sequenced. Comparison of the se quence obtained with those previously published shows the highest homo logy (91.7 % in NS3 and 91.8 % in NS5) with the HCV-1b subtype. The in cidence of the local variant was analysed among the HCV-1b-infected pa tients. In order to distinguish between the local and HCV-lb prototype subtype, a new specific PCR assay was designed using primers from NS5 . In the majority of the 76 HCV-1b-infected patients, the local varian t was the only subtype detected (53 %). These findings support the exi stence of a local variant, belonging to the HCV-1b subtype.