Qian C, Camps J, Maluenda M D, Civeira M P, Prieto J
Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.
J Hepatol. 1992 Nov;16(3):380-3. doi: 10.1016/s0168-8278(05)80674-9.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a positive-stranded RNA virus which replicates through a negative-stranded RNA intermediate. Using a PCR procedure to detect positive and negative strands, we investigated the existence of HCV replication in lymphoid cells. Both positive and negative strands were found in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of all patients (n = 10) with untreated chronic hepatitis C. No HCV sequences were detected in PBMC in any of the 8 healthy controls. Fifteen patients with chronic hepatitis C were studied at the end of a 12-month course of alpha-interferon therapy. The positive strand was detected in PBMC in all 9 non-responder patients, and the negative strand in 7. In contrast, in PBMC from responder patients (n = 6) the positive strand was found in 4 and the negative strand in only 2 cases. These results demonstrate that HCV can infect PBMC and replicate in these cells and that interferon seems to exert an inhibitory effect on this process. Persistence of HCV-RNA in PBMC may help explain disease relapse after successful interferon therapy.
丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）是一种正链RNA病毒，它通过负链RNA中间体进行复制。我们采用聚合酶链反应（PCR）方法检测正链和负链，研究了HCV在淋巴细胞中的复制情况。在所有未经治疗的慢性丙型肝炎患者（n = 10）的外周血单核细胞（PBMC）中均检测到正链和负链。在8名健康对照者的PBMC中未检测到HCV序列。对15例慢性丙型肝炎患者在接受12个月的α干扰素治疗结束时进行了研究。在所有9例无反应患者的PBMC中检测到正链，7例检测到负链。相比之下，在有反应患者（n = 6）的PBMC中，4例检测到正链，仅2例检测到负链。这些结果表明，HCV可感染PBMC并在这些细胞中复制，并且干扰素似乎对这一过程发挥抑制作用。PBMC中HCV-RNA的持续存在可能有助于解释干扰素治疗成功后疾病的复发。
