Prevalence of occult HCV infections in Saudi patients who achieved sustained virologic response with direct acting antiviral treatment | ||||
Medical Journal of Viral Hepatitis | ||||
Article 3, Volume 5.1, Issue 1, November 2020, Page 7-12 PDF (314.91 K) | ||||
Document Type: Original article | ||||
DOI: 10.21608/mjvh.2020.125595 | ||||
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Authors | ||||
Hamad Al Ashgar1; Mohammed Al Quaiz1; Khalid Al Kahtani1; Ahmed AlQahtani2; Hussa Alhussaini3; Amr M Elssadany4; Saleh A Alqahtani5; MUSTHAFA PEEDIKAYIL 6 | ||||
1Medicine, Gastroenterology dept., King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | ||||
2Infection and Immunity dept., Research Center, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | ||||
3Anatomic pathology, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | ||||
4Radiology dept., King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | ||||
5Consultant hepatologist, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre. Riyadh. Saudi Arabia. | ||||
6KING FAISAL SPECIALIST HOSPITAL AND RESEARCH CENTER,PO BOX NO.3354 | ||||
Abstract | ||||
Background: Occult hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (OCI) is a condition where HCVRNA is present in hepatocytes or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), but not in the serum, in patients treated for hepatitis C infection. Serum HCV ant-ibodies may or may not be present. Aim: We investigated the prevalence of OCI in PBMCs and hepatocytes in patients who had achieved sustained virologic response (SVR) after 24 weeks of direct-acting antiviral treatment. Methods: Chronic HCV patients with Genotype 1a and 4 who achieved SVR24 weeks after treatment with direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) were prospectively selected. RNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit (Qiagen GmbH, Germany) was used for RNA extraction from blood and liver tissue samples. Superscript IV First-Strand Synthesis System (Invitrogen) was used for reverse transcription PCR. Quantitative and qualitative detection of HCV RNA was performed using pri-mers specific to the 5′untranslated region (5′UTR). Patients: Of the six chronic HCV patients recruited for this study, five were infected with genotype 4 and one with genotype 1a. Five patients were treated with Sofosbuvir and Daclatasvir, and one patient with Ledipasvir plus Sofosbuvir. All of the patients were immunocompetent. Results: None of the pat-ients had detectable HCV RNA in either the PBMCs or hepatocytes, suggesting zero prevalence of OCI in patients who achieved 24 weeks SVR post DAA treatment. Conclusion: We failed to detect HCV RNA in both the hepatocytes and PBMCs of all patients recruited for the study. This finding suggests that OCI is a rare phenomenon in chronic HCV patients with SVR following DAAs. | ||||
Keywords | ||||
Chronic hepatitis; HCV; hepatitis C virus; occult infection; occult HCV infection; direct-acting antiviral agents | ||||
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