Hepatitis C virus genotypes, reactivity to recombinant immunoblot assay 2 antigens and liver disease

To clarify the relationship between hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes and liver disease, we typed HCV genomes in the sera of 151 blood donors, 180 patients with type C chronic liver disease (CLD), and 30 haemophiliacs residing in Hiroshima, Japan. All of the subjects were positive for anti-HCV and HCV-RNA, and were examined for seroreactivity to HCV-specific antigens. The HCV genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with type-specific primers deduced from the putative core region of the HCV genome. Significantly more (P < 0.001) type III HCV was found in the samples from the CLD patients (80%) than in those from the blood donors (55%). Significantly more (P < 0.001) type III HCV was found in the samples from the blood donors (29.1%) than in those from the CLD patients (11.7%). There was no significant difference in the distribution of the HCV types among the patients with chronic active hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. A four-antigen recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA-2) assay was used to compare the serum samples for their reactivity to a range of structural and nonstructural peptides specific for HCV (5-1-1, C100-3, C33c, and C22-3). The frequency of seropositivity to 5-1-1 and C100-3 was significantly higher (P < 0.001) in type II HCV-infected blood donors than in type III HCV-infected donors (68.2% and 65.9% vs. 4.5% and 22.7%, respectively). Among the type III HCV-infected individuals, the CLD patients had a significantly higher (P < 0.01) frequency of seropositivity to 5-1-1 than the blood donors (33.3% vs. 4.5%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)