Quantitation of hepatic hepatitis C virus RNA in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Relationship with severity of disease, viral genotype and response to treatment

Background/Aims: To determine the correlation between hepatic hepatitis C v irus (HCV) RNA and histological lesions, viral genotype or response to alph a interferon therapy. Methods: Forty-three patients with chronic hepatitis C (14 sustained respon ders (SR) and 29 non-sustained responders (NSR)) were studied. A liver tiss ue sample was obtained before and I year after treatment. Quantitation of h epatic HCV-RNA was performed by competitive PCR. Results: Before treatment, HCV-RNA was detectable in all liver samples. The re was no association between hepatic HCV-RNA and the severity of liver les ions. There was a significant association between old age and hepatic HCV-R NA (P = 0.03). There was an association, at the limit of significance, betw een genotype I and high hepatic HCV-RNA amounts (15 X 10(6) and 4.1 X 10(6) copies/g, P = 0.05). Pre-treatment hepatic HCV-RNA amounts were lower in S Rs than in others (0.65 X 10(6) and 13.2 X 10(6) copies/g, P = 0.0002). Aft er treatment, no liver HCV-RNA was detectable in the SRs while in the NSRs, the HCV-RNA amounts were unchanged. Conclusions: The amount of hepatic HCV-RNA is correlated to genotype and re sponse to interferon therapy but not to histologic lesions. Hepatic HCV-RNA clearance is observed in SRs, suggesting viral eradication. (C) 2001 Europ ean Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier Science B .V. All rights reserved.