AUTOIMMUNE HEPATITIS TYPE-1 WITHOUT EVIDENCE OF HEPATITIS-G VIRUS-INFECTION

Hepatitis G virus (HGV) RNA was measured in sera from 60 patients sati sfying the international diagnostic criteria of definite autoimmune he patitis type 1 using a reverse transcription and polymerase chain reac tion with primers of the putative NS5 region of the HGV genome. Five p atients had a history of blood transfusion. Of the 60 patients, 55 (92 %) were confirmed as having human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DR4 or DR2 w hich are genetic markers for susceptibility to autoimmune hepatitis in Japanese. None of the 60 patients had any serum markers suggesting he patitis B virus infection and 5 (8%) had evidence of on-going hepatiti s C virus infection. No patients had HGV RNA in serum. The absence of active HGV infection in this cohort suggests that HGV does not play a casual role in the development of autoimmune hepatitis in Japan. (C) 1 997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.