Partial nucleotide sequencing of the NS3/helicase region of hepatitis G virus to prove vertical transmission

To study non-parental transmission of hepatitis G virus and/or GB virus C ( IIGV/GBV-C), we sequenced and compared the NS3/helicase region of the virus for five HGV/GBV-C RNA-positive mothers and their Il children who had expe rienced neither blood transfusion nor overt hepatitis and were negative for HBV, HCV and HIV, except in one mother coinfected with HCV, The nucleotide sequences of the familial HGV/GBV-C isolates showed high similarity of 99- 100% (mean 99.8%, 100% at the deduced amino acid level) between mother and her child(ren) in each family. These findings strongly suggest the spontane ous occurrence of mother-to-child transmission of HGV/GBV-C as reported pre viously. They also suggest that nucleotide sequence analysis on the NS3/hel icase region of HGV/GBV-C may be a useful tool to study HGV/GBV-C transmiss ion, (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.