Impact of host responses on control of hepatitis C virus infection in Chinese blood donors

Abstract

A study was undertaken to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying control of HCV infection in blood donors in China. Factors including clinical information, anti-HCV reactivity (S/CO), IFN-α and IFN-γ, viral loads and genotypes were correlated with 160 index plasma samples at three statuses of 45 recovered, 76 chronic or 39 false positive anti-HCV reactive blood donors. The spontaneous recovery rate was 37.2%. Viral loads of 76 HCV plasmas ranged between 59.8 IU/ml and 2.43×106 IU/ml (median 3.67×104 IU/ml). Genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 6 of 63 HCV strains were identified phylogenetically. Recovered donors were significantly younger (p=0.002) and had lower level IFN-γ (p=0.001) than chronically HCV infected donors. Circulating levels of IFN-α and IFN-γ were higher in those with low viral load and were low in middle or high viral load samples. The ratio of IFN-α to IFN-γ (IFN-α/γ) was significantly positively correlated with viral load (p=0.037), and viral load was inversely correlated with IFN-γ in chronic HCV infection regardless of genotype. The study revealed clearly different relationships between IFN-α and IFN-γ in relation to viral load in HCV, which might provide a new approach to evaluate long term control of HCV infection.

Infection of common marmosets with hepatitis C virus/GB virus-B chimeras

“…The 13 common marmosets ( Callithrix jacchue jacchus ) used in this study were juvenile males with an average weight of 350 g. Prior to inoculation, all animals tested negative for GBV‐B, HCV, and HBV by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) or reverse‐transcription (RT‐qPCR) . All marmosets were imported from Tianjin Medical University and individually housed and bred at the Laboratory Animal Research Center of Nanfang Hospital, Guangzhou, China.…”

“…Amplification of chimeric RNA was conducted on plasma and liver samples by RT‐qPCR using two sets of primers and probes targeting either HCV or GBV‐B genome (Supporting Materials and Methods) . The plasmid pGBB containing GBV‐B genome was used as standard to establish genome equivalents for viral load quantification .…”

Interleukin‐28B genetic variations and spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C antibody–positive blood donors in China

“…215‐bp HCV cDNA fragment) purified in 1.5% agarose gel were sequenced for HCV genotyping. Nucleotide sequences were phylogenetically analyzed by computer software (MEGA, Version 4.1, http://www.megasoftware.net/) in alignment with the 5′ untranslated region sequences of HCV references, which were retrieved from GenBank database …”

Significance of Monoclonal Antibodies against the Conserved Epitopes within Non-Structural Protein 3 Helicase of Hepatitis C Virus

“…Donor blood samples were collected from Shenzhen and Guangzhou blood centers in Guangdong province [17]. The written informed consents were obtained from all blood donors.…”

“…Samples confirmed anti-HCV positive and RNA positive (Ab+/RNA+) were classified as chronic infection. Those confirmed antibody positive RNA negative (Ab+/RNA-) were classified as recovered infection [17]. The cutoffs of peptides reactive to negative control samples were calculated as mean+2SD with 95% confidence interval (CI) in ELISA.…”