Abe K
Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan.
Jpn J Infect Dis. 2001 Apr;54(2):55-63.
GB virus-C (GBV-C)/hepatitis G virus (HGV) is a positive, single-strand RNA virus that has been classified in the family Flaviviridae. Interestingly, GBV-C/HGV appears to have a truncated or absent core protein at the amino terminus of the polyprotein. GBV-C/HGV is transmitted parenterally and probably sexually. Most GBV-C/HGV infections appear to be asymptomatic, persistent, and no correlation between virus infection and liver dysfunction although the disease-inducing activity of GBV-C/HGV remains to be investigated. Furthermore, there was no evidence of pathogenesis in the liver by experiment with chimpanzees. From these results, GBV-C/HGV might be considered as a kind of "orphan" virus in search of a disease. Epidemiological investigation demonstrated that GBV-C/HGV infection is present in about 1-1.4% of the healthy population in developed countries and in 8-14.6% in developing countries. The genome of GBV-C/HGV exhibits a sequence variation among different isolates. On the basis of this variation, it has been proposed that GBV-C/HGV can be classified into at least four major genotypes, consisting of type 1 (West Africa), type 2 (US/Europe), type 3 (Asia), and type 4 (Southeast Asia).
GB病毒C型（GBV-C）/庚型肝炎病毒（HGV）是一种正链单股RNA病毒，已被归类于黄病毒科。有趣的是，GBV-C/HGV在多聚蛋白的氨基末端似乎有一个截短的或缺失的核心蛋白。GBV-C/HGV通过肠道外途径传播，也可能通过性传播。大多数GBV-C/HGV感染似乎没有症状，呈持续性，并且病毒感染与肝功能障碍之间没有相关性，尽管GBV-C/HGV的致病活性仍有待研究。此外，用黑猩猩进行的实验没有发现其在肝脏中有致病作用的证据。基于这些结果，GBV-C/HGV可能被视为一种正在寻找相关疾病的“孤儿”病毒。流行病学调查表明，GBV-C/HGV感染在发达国家约1-1.4%的健康人群中存在，在发展中国家为8-14.6%。GBV-C/HGV的基因组在不同分离株之间表现出序列变异。基于这种变异，有人提出GBV-C/HGV可至少分为四个主要基因型，即1型（西非）、2型（美国/欧洲）、3型（亚洲）和4型（东南亚）。
