Clustered distribution of virus infected cells in the liver of patients with chronic hepatitis C

[摘要] Introduction: detection of hepatitis C virus RNA and proteins in the liver can not onlycontribute to the knowledge of the mechanisms of HCV replication and pathogenesisbut also complement diagnostics and therapeutic studies. Objective:to determine the presence of hepatitis C virus in the liver of patients withchronic hepatitis C that were immunized with a therapeutic vaccine candidate. Methods: detection of hepatitis C virus RNA and proteins were studied by in situhybridization and immunofluorescence assays in liver biopsies from 14 hepatitisC virus -infected individuals. Results: hybridization signals for hepatitis C virus-RNA of both positive and negativepolarity were detected in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes from most of the samplesanalyzed. However, the HCV structural antigens could not be detected in anyof the samples. The hepatitis C virus RNA was observed on granular structuresin the cytoplasm of hepatocytes. This staining pattern is similar to that describedfor stress granules and/or lipid droplets which are involved in hepatitis Cvirus replication. The proportion of cells showing positive reactions for hepatitisC virus RNA of negative polarity (which is a marker of ongoing viral replication)ranged from 4.47 % to 15.94 %. Conclusions: results from this work suggest that hepatitis C virus infection occursin groups of neighbouring hepatocytes that are distributed sporadically in theliver. This is consistent with the model of clustered spatial distribution ofhepatitis C virus infected cells and cell to-cell spread of hepatitis C virusin the liver, and suggests that hepatitis C virus replication was constrainedin these patients.

[学科分类] 传染病学