EVIDENCE OF NON-A, NON-B, NON-C INFECTION IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS BY POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION TESTING FOR HEPATITIS-B AND HEPATITIS-C VIRUSES

Background/Aims: Although hepatitis C virus is clearly the major cause of non-A, non-B acute and chronic hepatitis, there is a group of pati ents with histologically documented chronic hepatitis with no serologi cal marker of hepatitis B and C, nor any other risk factors for liver disease. Methods: We have investigated 17 well-characterized patients with chronic active hepatitis, HBV-DNA and HCV-RNA were tested by poly merase chain reaction in 17 serum samples and in six liver biopsies. R esults: Four of the 17 patients had serum HCV-RNA detectable by polyme rase chain reaction, while none had HBV-DNA detectable by polymerase c hain reaction. Three of the six liver samples gave a positive signal b y cyclin A and HLA, and only these were considered for the study. One of the three was HCV-RNA positive, while none was HBV-DNA positive. Co nclusions: Our results, obtained through careful elimination of all kn own risk factors for liver disease, strongly suggest that non-A, non-B , non-C hepatotropic virus(es) could be involved in some cases of chro nic active liver disease.