Detection of hepatitis C virus RNA in serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with interferon alpha.

PCR was used to detect hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) for evaluation of a six-month course of interferon therapy in 18 patients with histologically confirmed chronic hepatitis C. At follow-up six months after the end of therapy positive-stranded (genomic) and negative-stranded (anti-genomic, presumptive replicative intermediate) HCV RNA could be detected in PBMCs of all ten patients who either did not respond to therapy or suffered a relapse; genomic strand RNA was detected in five patients who responded but then relapsed. The study confirms that interferon therapy leads to inhibition of HCV replication but not eradication of the virus. Persistence of the virus at extrahepatic sites may explain its reactivation after cessation of interferon therapy.