Clinical relevance of hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection in heart transplant patients

To investigate whether the recently discovered hepatitis G virus (HGV) infl uences the clinical outcome of heart transplant recipients under immunosupp ression, we determined the prevalence of HGV infections correlated with liv er function and survival in 51 patients. Presence of HGV RNA and anti-E2 a marker for resolved HGV infection, were serially tested in sera from patien ts before and after heart transplantation (PIX) by nested RT-PCR and ELISA. Four of 51 (7.8%) patients before transplantation, and 22 of 50 patients ( 44%) after transplantation showed signs of persistent or resolved HGV infec tion. HGV infection was not associated with impairment of liver function or with patient survival. In summary, presence of HGV infection does not infl uence the clinical outcome in heart transplant patients.