Hepatitis C virus long-term persistence in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with haemophilia. Detection of occult genotype 1

PARODI CECILIA; GARCÍA GABRIEL ; MONZANI CECILIA; CULASSO ANDRES; ALOISI NATALIA; CORTI MARCELO; CAMPOS RODOLFO; DE ELIZALDE DE BRACCO MARIA M; BARE PATRICIA

JOURNAL OF VIRAL HEPATITIS.

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2014

1352-0504

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from chronic Hepatitis C virus infected persons can harbor viral variants undetectable in plasma samples. We explored the presence and persistence of HCV genotypes in plasma and PBMC cultures from 25 HCV monoinfected and 25 HIV/HCV coinfected patients with hemophilia. Cell cultures were performed at different time points between 1993 and 2010-2011, and HCV genome was examined in supernatant samples (SN) obtained along culture days. Sequential plasma samples were studied during the same time period. Analyzing sequential plasma samples, 21% of the patients had mixed-genotype infections, while 50% displayed HCV mixed infections after the PBMC culture. HIV coinfection was associated with the presence of mixed infections using Fisher?s exact test (OR= 4.57, p= 0.02; 95%CI=1.38 - 15.1). In our previous study, genotype 1 was found in the 72% of 288 patients of this same cohort. Similar results were obtained with the sequential plasma samples included in this study, which showed 69% of genotype 1. However, when taking into account plasma samples together with SN after cell culture, genotype 1 was revealed in 94% of the population, although it had not been detected in all cases through the analysis of sequential plasma samples alone. The PBMC-associated variants were found for 10 years in some subjects, emphasizing their role as long-term reservoirs. The presence of genotype 1 could represent a cause of therapeutic failure and should not be disregarded when treating hemophilic patients who have been infected by contaminated factor concentrates. The clinical implications of persistent lymphotropic HCV variants deserve further examination among particular groups of HCV chronic carriers.