The Journal of Infectious Diseases · 1994 · 216 citations · 24 references
MedicineInfectious DiseasesMicrobiologyHepatologyMolecular VirologyVirologyCirrhosisHepatic Function TestingLiver DiseaseLiver Function TestsLiver TransplantationViral HepatitisChronic Viral HepatitisHepatitis C InfectionHepatitis Virus DiagnosisHepatitis Virus TestingLiver Transplant ReferralSerum Alanine AminotransferaseSymptomatic PresentationViral Hepatitis Assessment
A quantitative competitive RNA polymerase chain reaction (QC-PCR) assay was developed for measuring absolute levels of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in the sera of 121 viremic persons, including 64 asymptomatic blood donors, 39 symptomatic patients referred for treatment of chronic hepatitis C, and 18 patients with end-stage liver disease referred for liver transplantation. Mean HCV RNA levels (log molecules per milliliter) were lowest among blood donors with normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) values (5.8 +/- 1.5), higher among blood donors with elevated ALT (6.9 +/- 0.8) and clinic patients with chronic active hepatitis (6.9 +/- 0.7), and highest among patients with cirrhosis (7.1 +/- 0.8) or end-stage liver disease (7.6 +/- 1.0). High-titer viremia ( > or = 7.5 logs/mL) was more frequent among patients with end-stage liver disease (14/18; 78%) than either blood donors (10/64; P < .001) or patients with chronic active hepatitis (7/26; P < .001). Thus, 121 (94.5%) of 128 anti-HCV-positive persons were viremic. QC-PCR may be valuable for monitoring HCV infection status and selecting individuals for therapy.
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Isolation of a cDNA cLone Derived from a Blood-Borne Non-A, Non-B Viral Hepatitis Genome
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