ANALYSIS OF THE HEPATITIS-C VIRUS GENOME IN PATIENTS WITH ANTI-LKM-1 AUTOANTIBODIES

Hepatitis C virus genotypes have been characterized in 22 patients wit h anti-LKM-1 positive chronic hepatitis C. Following the Simmonds clas sification, 77% of patients were infected by hepatitis C virus genotyp e 1, 18% by genotype 2 and 5% by genotype 3, thus excluding the associ ation of the autoimmune reaction with a particular viral type. Prevale nces of genotype 1 and 2 were significantly different from those obtai ned in 79 patients with chronic hepatitis C who were negative for anti -LKM-1, as these were more rarely infected by genotype 1 and more freq uently by genotype 2. Clinical findings of anti-LKM-1 positive patient s were similar in all three groups. Sequence analysis of the amplified 5'UTR provided identification of peculiar and identical nucleotide su bstitutions in two out of four patients with genotype 2. The analysis of the secondary structure of this region showed that the observed nuc leotide mutations increased the stability of the stem formed in this p osition. (C) Journal of Hepatology.