Effects of corticosteroids on HCV infection

The risk factors for clinical recurrent hepatitis C in liver transplant rec ipients are not clearly defined. It has been suggested that the corticoster oids included in the treatments of patients undergoing allograft rejection might induce acute hepatitis by increasing HCV replication. In this study w e investigated the effects of corticosteroid boluses on HCV viremia in live r allograft recipients treated for acute rejection. Since we had previously developed a model of HCV replication in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in vitro, we also studied the effects of corticosteroids on HCV rep lication in vitro. A transient peak of HCV viremia was observed in patients treated with corti costeroid boluses for an acute allograft rejection. In the cell cultures, c orticosteroids induced an increase of the total amount of viral RNA detecta ble. Our results demonstrate that corticosteroids induce an increase nf hepatiti s C virus replication in vivo and in vitro. (C) 1999 International Society for Immunopharmacology, Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reser ved.