Document 0512
 DOCN  M9650512
 TI    Hepatitis C virus RNA in patients with anti-HCV on hemodialysis.
       Relationship to transaminase levels.
 DT    9605
 AU    Garcia-Valdecasas J; Bernal C; Cerezo S; Garcia F; Montiel N; Leyva A;
       Umana WO; Bosch JP; Department of Medicine, Hospital Universitario,
       University of; Granada, Spain.
 SO    ASAIO J. 1994 Jul-Sep;40(3):M450-3. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/96145400
 AB    This study was performed in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) who
       were treated with hemodialysis to determine the relationships among
       alanine amino-transferase (ALT) levels, immunoglobulin (Ig) G anti-HCV,
       IgM anti-HCV core, and HCV RNA. Of 107 patients on hemodialysis, 27 had
       positive IgG anti-HCV. Eight of the patients who had HCV were evaluated
       every 8 months during a period of 2 years, using the following selection
       criteria: positive IgG against c-22, c33-c, 5-1-1, and c100-3 viral
       peptides; absence of infection by hepatitis A virus, hepatitis B virus,
       cytomegalo-virus, Epstein-Barr virus, herpes simplex virus, and human
       immunodeficiency virus, as well as absence of hepatotoxic drugs or
       cholelithiasis. We considered elevated ALT values as those more than
       150% of the upper limit of normal. Three of the patients had persistent
       elevation of ALT levels, two had alternating elevation of ALT levels,
       and three had normal ALT levels in all blood samples. Of the 24 blood
       samples, 11 had elevation of ALT (45.8%) levels that showed positive IgM
       anti-HCV, but only 7 of these 11 had positive HCV RNA (63.6%). None of
       the 13 blood samples without elevation of ALT had positive IgM anti-HCV,
       but 5 had positive HCV RNA (38.5%). We found an excellent correlation
       between IgM anti-HCV and ALT levels (r = 0.81). There was no
       statistically significant difference between the mean ALT values on the
       12 blood samples that had positive HCV RNA and the mean ALT values of
       the negative HCV RNA samples (53.5 +/- 28.0 IU/l vs. 37.4 +/- 17.5 IU/l,
       respectively). IgM anti-HCV is related to the elevation of ALT levels
       and can be used as a serologic marker to indicate the presence of active
       HCV induced liver damage. Serum ALT levels do not correlate with the
       detection of viral genome in sera. IgG anti-HCV is not necessarily
       associated with HCV RNA or IgM anti-HCV. The absence of IgM and HCV RNA
       in patients with IgG anti-HCV and normal ALT levels does not necessarily
       suggest the absence of active HCV infection.
 DE    Alanine Aminotransferase/*BLOOD  Base Sequence  Biological Markers/BLOOD
       DNA Primers/GENETICS  *Hemodialysis  Hepatitis
       C/DIAGNOSIS/ENZYMOLOGY/VIROLOGY  Hepatitis C Antibodies/*BLOOD
       Hepatitis C Viruses/GENETICS/IMMUNOLOGY/*ISOLATION & PURIF  Hepatitis,
       Chronic Active/DIAGNOSIS/ENZYMOLOGY/VIROLOGY  Human  IgG/BLOOD
       IgM/BLOOD  Molecular Sequence Data  Polymerase Chain Reaction  RNA,
       Viral/*BLOOD/GENETICS  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).