HEPATITIS-C VIRUS GENOTYPES IN PATIENTS WITH PERSISTENT INFECTION - APRELIMINARY-REPORT

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has nucleotide sequence diversity distributed throughout the viral genome, with variants showing even less than 70% homology. There is some evidence that sequence variation of HCV genoty pes partly determines the course of infection and response to treatmen t with interferon. We studied the sera of 29 Israeli HCV patients, all suffering from chronic liver disease, and 34 patients with renal fail ure necessitating hemodialysis. HCV genotypes were detected using a re verse hybridization assay (LiPA), after reverse transcription polymera se chain reaction, using primers spanning the 5' UTR of the HCV genome . In this preliminary report the predominant HCV type detected was typ e 1, found in 65% of the chronic hepatitis patients and in 88% of the hemodialysis patients. Subtype 1b was the most prevalent and was detec ted in >40% of the chronic hepatitis patients and in >70% of the dialy sis patients. Other types detected were 2a and 3, and in only two pati ents was type 4 found. More than 50% of patients with type 1 (1a or 1b ) among patients with chronic hepatitis had received blood transfusion in the past, but only 16.6% of patients bearing subtype 2a HCV had su ch a history. Our preliminary evaluation revealed that patients bearin g subtype 1b seemed to have a better response to interferon treatment, as compared with patients infected with subtypes 1a, 2a, who displaye d a low response rate.