HCV-RNA positivity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with chronic HCV infection: does it really mean viral replication?

Table 1 Clinical, virological and therapeutic parameters of 12 patients with chronic HCV infection and treated with IFN-α_2a

Patient No.	Age (yrs)	Sex (U/L)	Genotype	ALT	Therapy regiment (IFN-α )	Duration of therap (month)	Response
1	60	F	1b	30	3 × 3 × 106 IU/week	18	Respond
2	79	M	n.d.	n.d.	2 × 3 × 106 IU/week	19	Respond
3	51	F	1a	34	3 × 3 × 106 IU/week	6	Relaps
					800 mg Ribavirin/day
4	62	M	1b	36	7 × 6 × 106 IU/week	6	Relaps
5	41	M	1b	40	3 × 3 × 106 IU/week	17	Respond
6	63	F	1b	46	3 × 6 × 106 IU/week	14	Relaps
7	61	M	1b	45	7 × 6 × 106 IU/week	6	Respond
8	48	F	1a/1b	36	3 × 3 × 106 IU/week	7	Relaps
					800 mg Ribavirin/day
9	63	F	1b	20	3 × 4.5 × 106 IU/week	12	Relaps
10	60	M	1b	36	3 × 6 × 106 IU/week	12	Relaps
11	53	M	n.d.	92	3 × 9 × 106 IU/week	12	Respond
12	43	F	1a	160	3 × 6 × 106 IU/week	12	Respond
13	53	F	1b	9	3 × 6 × 106 IU/week	12	Respond
					800 mg Ribavirin/day
14	69	F	1b	22	3 × 6 × 106 IU/week	12	Relaps
15	63	M	1a	69	3 × 6 × 106 IU/week	9	Relaps

ALT: alanine transaminase; M: male; F: female; n.d.: not determined; respond: responder; relaps: relapser.

Table 2 Detectability of HCV-RNA in serum and PBMC during an IFN-α_2a therapy

PatientNo.	Before therapy	During therapy	After therapy
	HCV-RNA concentration (copy/mL) (HCV-RNA: serum pos./ PBMC pos.)	HCV-RNA concentration (copy/mL) (HCV-RNA: serum pos./ PBMC n.d.)	HCV-RNA concentration (copy/mL) (HCV-RNA: serum pos./ PBMC n.d.)	HCV-RNA concentration (copy/mL) (HCV-RNA: serum pos./ PBMC pos.)
1	64717	< 600	1)	1)
2	14300	< 600	1)	1)
3	132224	< 600	2)	167898
4	107684	624	2)	135242
5	161718	1404	1)	1)
6	5620	903	1108	938861
7	183091	2041	1)	1)
8	172345	< 600	1960	86679
9	29542	775	2)	770810
10	219018	1138	< 600	7240
11	42601	< 600	1)	1)
12	237335	< 600	1)	1)
13	25097	2263	1)	1)
14	553901	1144	2)	4706
15	868996	2)	627	349918

Abbreviations: 1) responder; 2) no sample available.

Table 3 Detectability of HCV-RNA in PBMC of healthy donors after incubation with different dilutions of HCV-RNA positive plasma

Patients	HCV concentration (copies/mL)				PMBC of healthy donor	Detectability of HCV-RNA in PBMC of healthy donors
	Undiluted sample	1:4	1:16	1:64		Before incubation	After incubation dilution step (copies/mL)
SG	119271	29818	7454	1863	BS	n.d.	Undiluted (119271)
UP	337539	84385	21096	5274	VM	n.d.	1:16 (21096)
EZ	77518	19290	4822	1206	NN	n.d.	1:4 (19290)