NEGATIVE STRAND OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS-RNA IN THE LIVER OF PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C AFTER INTERFERON TREATMENT

In patients receiving interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis C, seru m hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA often reverts from an undetectable to a detectable form after completion of treatment. Detection of the negati ve strand of HCV-RNA in liver tissue is regarded as an index of viral proliferation. Therefore, we investigated changes in the hepatic negat ive-strand HCV-RNA following interferon therapy to determine whether t his parameter could predict the long-term response to treatment. The s ubjects of this study were 27 patients with chronic active hepatitis C . Serum positive-strand and hepatic tissue negative-strand HCV-RNA wer e detected using polymerase chain reaction. At the completion of inter feron treatment, serum HCV-RNA was not detected in 21 patients. One ye ar following treatment it remained undetectable in 14 of these patient s but it had reverted to a detectable form in seven. The 14 patients i n whom hepatic negative-strand RNA was not detected between 2 weeks an d 12 months after treatment, had not relapsed after another year. In t he 13 remaining patients, negative-strand RNA was found in liver tissu e and serum RNA either reverted to a detectable form or remained detec table throughout. From these findings, we conclude that the detection of negative-strand HCV-RNA in liver tissue 2 weeks after the completio n of interferon therapy is useful for predicting the long-term effect of therapy.