한국인의 급성 및 만성 간질환에서 C형 간염 바이러스 항체 (anti-HCV)의 발현상

Abstract

[한국어 초록 없음]

Since the development of diagnostic tests for hepatitis A and B viruses in 1975, it was apparent that most cases of post-transfusion hepatitis are not caused by these agents or any other known hepatotropic virus such as cytomegalovirus or Epstein-Barr virus. Termed non-A, non-B hepatitis, the causative agent has remained frustratingly elusive despite intensive research for over a decade. However major causative agent of non-A, non-B hepatitis(hepatitis C virus) was characterized recently, by using efficient nucleic acid extraction and cloning techniques coupled with a immunoscreening approach, and then a capture assay for circulating viral antibody(anti-HCV) to the recombinant-based antigen developed. So we detected anti-HCV in sera of 335 patients with various liver diseases using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay to evaluate the prevalence of anti-HCV in patients with acute and chronic liver diseases in Korea. In 69 patients with presumed acute non-A. non-B hepatitis, 9 cases (13.0%) were positive for anti-HCV, while 11(30.6%) among 36 patients with HBsAg positive acute viral hepatitis who had neither IgM anti-HBc, nor IgM anti-HAV were anti-HCV positive. Anti-HCV was detected in sera of 13(44.8%) out of 29 patients with HBsAg negative chronic active hepatitis. In patients with HBsAg positive chronic active hepatitis, the positive rate of anti-HCV was significantly different (p<0.05) between those with HBeAg(13.3%) and without HBeAg(46.4%). The highest positive rate(50%) of anti-HCV was found in patients with HBsAg negative hepatocellular carcinoma, while 25% of patients with HBsAg negative liver cirrhosis was anti-HCV positive. These results suggest that hepatitis C virus has important etiologic role in HBsAg negative chronic hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma in Korea, and the superinfection of hepatitis C virus is not infrequent and may modify the natural course of chronic HBV infection.