125595

Prevalence of occult HCV infections in Saudi patients who achieved sustained virologic response with direct acting antiviral treatment

Article

Last updated: 03 Jan 2025

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Abstract

Background: Occult hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (OCI) is a condition where HCVRNA is present in hepatocytes or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), but not in the serum, in patients treated for hepatitis C infection. Serum HCV ant-ibodies may or may not be present. Aim: We investigated the prevalence of OCI in PBMCs and hepatocytes in patients who had achieved sustained virologic response (SVR) after 24 weeks of direct-acting antiviral treatment. Methods: Chronic HCV patients with Genotype 1a and 4 who achieved SVR24 weeks after treatment with direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) were prospectively selected. RNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit (Qiagen GmbH, Germany) was used for RNA extraction from blood and liver tissue samples. Superscript IV First-Strand Synthesis System (Invitrogen) was used for reverse transcription PCR. Quantitative and qualitative detection of HCV RNA was performed using pri-mers specific to the 5′untranslated region (5′UTR). Patients: Of the six chronic HCV patients recruited for this study, five were infected with genotype 4 and one with genotype 1a. Five patients were treated with Sofosbuvir and Daclatasvir, and one patient with Ledipasvir plus Sofosbuvir. All of the patients were immunocompetent. Results: None of the pat-ients had detectable HCV RNA in either the PBMCs or hepatocytes, suggesting zero prevalence of OCI in patients who achieved 24 weeks SVR post DAA treatment. Conclusion: We failed to detect HCV RNA in both the hepatocytes and PBMCs of all patients recruited for the study. This finding suggests that OCI is a rare phenomenon in chronic HCV patients with SVR following DAAs.

DOI

10.21608/mjvh.2020.125595

Keywords

Chronic hepatitis, HCV, Hepatitis C virus, occult infection, Occult HCV Infection, Direct-acting antiviral agents

Authors

First Name

Hamad

Last Name

Al Ashgar

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Medicine, Gastroenterology dept., King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Email

alashgar@kfshrc.edu.sa

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Mohammed

Last Name

Al Quaiz

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Medicine, Gastroenterology dept., King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Email

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City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Khalid

Last Name

Al Kahtani

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Medicine, Gastroenterology dept., King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Email

kkahtani@kfshrc.edu.sa

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

AlQahtani

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Infection and Immunity dept., Research Center, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Email

aqahtani@kfshrc.edu.sa

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Hussa

Last Name

Alhussaini

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Anatomic pathology, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Email

halhussaini@kfshrc.edu.sa

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Amr M

Last Name

Elssadany

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Radiology dept., King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Email

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City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Saleh A

Last Name

Alqahtani

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Consultant hepatologist, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre. Riyadh. Saudi Arabia.

Email

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City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

MUSTHAFA

Last Name

PEEDIKAYIL

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

KING FAISAL SPECIALIST HOSPITAL AND RESEARCH CENTER,PO BOX NO.3354

Email

musthafacpdr@gmail.com

City

RIYADH

Orcid

0000-0001-6193-6222

Volume

5.1

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

18818

Issue Date

2020-11-01

Receive Date

2020-06-17

Publish Date

2020-11-01

Page Start

7

Page End

12

Print ISSN

2314-8748

Online ISSN

2314-8756

Link

https://mjvh.journals.ekb.eg/article_125595.html

Detail API

https://mjvh.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=125595

Order

3

Type

Original article

Type Code

477

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Medical Journal of Viral Hepatitis

Publication Link

https://mjvh.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Prevalence of occult HCV infections in Saudi patients who achieved sustained virologic response with direct acting antiviral treatment

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023