Rezaee Zavareh Mohammad Saeid, Alavian Seyed Moayed, Karimisari Hamidreza, Shafiei Mostafa, Saiedi Hosseini Seyed Yasser
Students' Research Committee, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran ; Middle East Liver Diseases Center (MELD), Tehran, IR Iran.
Middle East Liver Diseases Center (MELD), Tehran, IR Iran.
Hepat Mon. 2014 Aug 10;14(8):e16089. doi: 10.5812/hepatmon.16089. eCollection 2014 Aug.
Occult hepatitis C virus infection (OCI) is recognized by finding hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in hepatocytes without detectable anti-HCV antibodies and viral RNA in plasma. Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic and generally progressive disease without exactly-identified etiology.
This study aimed to determine the prevalence of OCI among patients with AIH and to evaluate the tests used to rule out HCV infection in diagnosing AIH.
Between July 2012 to February 2013, 35 Iranian patients with AIH who attended Tehran Hepatitis Center were investigated. For identifying OCI, detection of HCV RNA in both ultracentrifuged serum samples and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was used. Data analysis was performed using SPSS.
Six males and 29 females with mean disease duration of 77.1 ± 39.5 month and mean age of 43.62 ± 12.67 years were investigated. All cases were negative for anti-HCV antibody and we could not find any HCV RNA in ultracentrifuged serum samples and PBMCs.
With our laboratory diagnostic method, it seems that there are no cases of OCI in patients with AIH. However, we recommend further studies with more samples and more precise laboratory method.
隐匿性丙型肝炎病毒感染（OCI）是通过在肝细胞中检测到丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）RNA而血浆中未检测到抗-HCV抗体和病毒RNA来识别的。自身免疫性肝炎（AIH）是一种病因未完全明确的慢性且通常呈进行性发展的疾病。
本研究旨在确定AIH患者中OCI的患病率，并评估在诊断AIH时用于排除HCV感染的检测方法。
2012年7月至2013年2月期间，对35名前往德黑兰肝炎中心就诊的伊朗AIH患者进行了调查。为了识别OCI，采用了在超速离心血清样本和外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）中检测HCV RNA的方法。使用SPSS进行数据分析。
共调查了6名男性和29名女性，平均病程为77.1±39.5个月，平均年龄为43.62±12.67岁。所有病例抗-HCV抗体均为阴性，且在超速离心血清样本和PBMC中均未发现HCV RNA。
采用我们的实验室诊断方法，AIH患者中似乎不存在OCI病例。然而，我们建议采用更多样本和更精确的实验室方法进行进一步研究。
