SIGNIFICANCE OF SERUM HEPATITIS-C VIRUS-RNA, IGM AND IGG ANTIBODIES AS MARKERS OF HCV INFECTION

We investigated the significance of serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA, immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies as marke rs of HCV infection in 91 HCV-IgG positive Saudi patients with liver d iseases. HCV-RNA and IgM-HCV could be detected in 87.5% and 62.5% resp ectively of 16 patients with acute non-CMV, non-EBV, NANBH, HCV-RNA co uld be detected in 10 out of 12 (83.3%) in patients with chronic activ e hepatitis while HCV-IgM could be detected in only 25.0% of this grou p. In patients with live cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma HCV-RN A could be detected in 100% while HCV-IgM were detectable in 25.0-30.0 % of these patients. Only HCV-RNA could be detected in HCV-IgG-positiv e blood donors (22.2%) and neither HCV-RNA nor HCV-IgM were apparent i n 22 patients with acute non A-E-hepatitis. These results show that te sting for HCV-RNA could be essential in early diagnosis of acute HCV i nfection, and that the presence of HCV-IgG by third generation EIA tes t is a reliable indicator of HCV replication in chronic type C disease . They also indicate that the significance of HCV-IgM as a marker in d iagnosing HCV infection is limited.