LACK OF DETECTION OF NEGATIVE-STRAND HEPATITIS-C VIRUS-RNA IN PERIPHERAL-BLOOD MONONUCLEAR-CELLS AND OTHER EXTRAHEPATIC TISSUES BY THE HIGHLY STRAND-SPECIFIC RTTH REVERSE-TRANSCRIPTASE PCR

To further explore the controversial potential for extrahepatic replic ation of hepatitis C virus (HCV), the highly strand-specific rTth meth od of reverse transcriptase PCR was used to examine sera, liver, perip heral blood mononuclear cells, and other extrahepatic tissues from HCV -infected chimpanzees and humans. Positive-strand HCV RNA was present in the liver at approximately 10-fold-higher levels than negative-stra nd HCV RNA. No negative-strand RNA was detected in peripheral blood mo nonuclear cells or other extrahepatic tissues despite the presence of abundant positive-strand RNA. These data demonstrate that within the l imits of sensitivity of this highly strand-specific reverse transcript ase PCR method, no extrahepatic replication of HCV was detected.