%0 Journal Article
%T Prevalence of Occult Hepatitis C Virus in Egyptian Patients with Chronic Lymphoproliferative Disorders
%A Samar Samir Youssef
%A Aml S. Nasr
%A Taher El Zanaty
%A Rasha Sayed El Rawi
%A Mervat M. Mattar
%J Hepatitis Research and Treatment
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/429784
%X Background. Occult hepatitis C virus infection (OCI) was identified as a new form of Hepatitis C virus (HCV), characterized by undetectable HCV antibodies and HCV RNA in serum, while HCV RNA is detectable in liver and peripheral blood cells only. Aim. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of OCI in Egyptian patients with lymphoproliferative disorders (LPDs) and to compare its prevalence with that of HCV in those patients. Subjects and Methods. The current study included 100 subjects, 50 of them were newly diagnosed cases having different lymphoproliferative disorders (patients group), and 50 were apparently healthy volunteers (controls group). HCV antibodies were detected by ELISA, HCV RNA was detected in serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR), and HCV genotype was detected by INNO-LiPA. Results. OCI was detected in 20% of patients group, compared to only 4% OCI in controls group. HCV was detected in 26% of patients group with a slightly higher prevalence. There was a male predominance in both HCV and OCI. All HCV positive patients were genotype 4. Conclusion. Our data revealed occurrence of occult HCV infection in Egyptian LPD patients at a prevalence of 20% compared to 26% of HCV. 1. Introduction Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a global health threat with 175 million carriers worldwide. Approximately 3% of the worldwide population is infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) [1]. The prevalence of HCV infection varies throughout the world, with the highest prevalence reported in Egypt [2]. HCV is an RNA virus that belongs to the family of flaviviruses [3]. The natural targets of HCV are hepatocytes and, possibly, B lymphocytes [4, 5]. A new form of chronic HCV infection named occult hepatitis C virus (OCI) was described by Castillo et al., 2004 [6]. This infection is characterized by absence of anti-HCV antibodies (Abs) and HCV RNA in serum with elevated liver function tests in the presence of HCV-RNA in the liver [6]. Furthermore, about 70% of patients with occult HCV infection also have HCV RNA in their peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs); the genomic and the antigenomic HCV RNA have also been detected in these cells [7]. Although detection of genomic HCV-RNA strand in liver biopsy specimen is the gold standard and the most accurate method for the diagnosis of occult HCV infection, testing for HCV-RNA in PBMCs is an alternative and easy to do when a liver biopsy is not available [8, 9]. Lymphoproliferative disorders is a term that
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/heprt/2012/429784/