Department of Microbial Biotechnology, National Research Center, Giza, Egypt.
Virol J. 2011 Jul 10;8:343. doi: 10.1186/1743-422X-8-343.
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is the most common cause of severe morbidity and mortality in immune- compromised individuals. This study was conducted to determine the incidence of HCMV infection in HCV patients who either spontaneously cleared the virus or progressed to chronic HCV infection. The study included a total of eighty four cases (48 females and 36 males) that were referred to blood banks for blood donation with an age range of 18-64 years (mean age 37.62 ± 10.03 years). Hepatitis C virus RNA and HCMV DNA were detected in sera by RT-nested PCR and nested PCR respectively in all subjects. Immunoglobulin G levels for HCV and HCMV were determined. Besides, IgM antibodies for HCMV infection were also determined in subjects' sera. Fifty three out of 84 cases (63%) were positive for HCV-RNA while 31 (37%) cases had negative HCV RNA. Forty six (87%) and 13 (25%) cases out of 53 HCV RNA positive patients were positive for HCMV IgG and IgM antibodies respectively. While 20 of 53 cases (38%) had detectable HCMV DNA. To examine the role of HCMV infection in HCV spontaneous resolution, two groups of HCV patients, group 1) chronic HCV infection (positive HCV RNA and positive IgG antibodies) vs group 2) spontaneous resolution (negative HCV RNA and positive IgG antibodies) were compared. The percentages of positive CMV IgG and IgM results is higher in chronic HCV patient than those in spontaneously cleared HCV patients and the difference is highly statistically significant (P value < 0.001). Also, there is a general trend towards elevated levels of CMV IgG antibodies in HCV chronic patients than those in spontaneously cleared HCV patients (P value < 0.02). HCMV DNA detection in group 1 was more than twice the value observed in group 2 (38% vs 14.3%, P value < 0.001). Moreover, levels of liver enzymes were significantly higher in HCV RNA positive cases co-infected with HCMV DNA than HCMV negative cases (P value < 0.001). The results indicate the role of HCMV in the liver pathogenesis. We conclude that chronic HCV patients co-infected with HCMV infection can be regarded as high risk groups for liver disease progression where they should be monitored for the long term outcome of the disease.
人巨细胞病毒（HCMV）是免疫功能低下个体发生严重发病和死亡的最常见原因。本研究旨在确定自发清除病毒或进展为慢性 HCV 感染的 HCV 患者中 HCMV 感染的发生率。该研究共纳入 84 例（48 名女性和 36 名男性），年龄在 18-64 岁之间（平均年龄 37.62±10.03 岁），这些患者因献血而被送往血库。使用 RT-巢式 PCR 和巢式 PCR 分别检测所有患者血清中的 HCV RNA 和 HCMV DNA。测定 HCV 和 HCMV 的 IgG 水平，并检测患者血清中 HCMV 感染的 IgM 抗体。84 例病例中，53 例（63%）HCV-RNA 阳性，31 例（37%）HCV-RNA 阴性。53 例 HCV RNA 阳性患者中，46 例（87%）和 13 例（25%）的 HCMV IgG 和 IgM 抗体阳性。20 例（38%）的 HCMV DNA 可检测到。为了研究 HCMV 感染在 HCV 自发性清除中的作用，将 HCV 患者分为两组，组 1：慢性 HCV 感染（HCV RNA 阳性和 IgG 抗体阳性）与组 2：自发性清除（HCV RNA 阴性和 IgG 抗体阳性）。慢性 HCV 患者的 CMV IgG 和 IgM 阳性结果百分比高于自发性清除 HCV 患者，差异具有统计学意义（P 值<0.001）。此外，慢性 HCV 患者的 CMV IgG 抗体水平普遍高于自发性清除 HCV 患者（P 值<0.02）。组 1 中 HCMV DNA 的检出率是组 2 的两倍多（38%比 14.3%，P 值<0.001）。此外，HCV RNA 阳性且合并 HCMV DNA 感染的病例的肝酶水平明显高于 HCMV 阴性病例（P 值<0.001）。这些结果表明 HCMV 在肝脏发病机制中的作用。我们得出结论，合并 HCMV 感染的慢性 HCV 患者可视为肝病进展的高危人群，应长期监测疾病的长期结局。
