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by
Eduardo Vilar |
Total Records (
1 ) for
Eduardo Vilar |
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Viviana Falcon
,
Nelson Acosta-Rivero
,
Nelson Acosta-Rivero
,
Jose Luna-Munoz
,
Magdalena Miranda-Sanchez
,
Maria-C de la Rosa
,
Ivon Menendez
,
Bienvenido Gra
,
Santiago Duenas-Carrera
,
Waldo Garcia
,
Eduardo Vilar
,
Jose Silva
,
Deliana Lopez
,
Maritza Gonzalez-Bravo
,
Celia Fernandez-Ortega
,
Dionne Casillas
,
Juan Morales
,
Juan Kouri
and
Victor Tsutsumi
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In this study, we examined the expression of hepatitis C virus (HCV) components in
hepatocytes and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients positive for anti-HCV
antibodies and negative for serum HCV-RNA. The samples obtained from 25 randomly selected
patients (13 of 25 patients showed no histological evidences of chronic hepatitis and had normal serum
ALAT and GGTP levels) were studied by in situ Hybridization and Immunofluorescence assays. The
findings show that HCV-RNA of both positive and negative polarity was carried in the hepatocytes of
more than 80% of cases. The proportion of cells expressing the negative strand (mean ± SD, 10.25% ±
5.56%) was lower than those expressing positive strand (mean ± SD, 19.88% ± 9.19%) (p=0.0076;
Student’s t test). In addition, reaction products suggestive of HCV core, E1 and E2 antigens within
hepatocytes were also observed. Both hybridization and immunofluorescence signals were localized in
the cytoplasm suggesting that this is the place of active HCV replication. On the other hand, the HCVRNA
of positive polarity was detected in PBMC from 16 out of 17 samples analyzed (94%) while the
HCV-RNA of negative polarity was detected in 82% of samples investigated. Positive hybridization
signals were localized in the cytoplasm of PBMC. Interestingly, 12 out of 13 patients with clinical and
histological resolution of hepatitis, contain HCV-RNA in either liver or PBMC. These results provide
further evidences that the intermediate replicative form of the HCV genome can persist in hepatocytes
and PBMC after apparently complete resolution of chronic hepatitis C. |
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