الفهرس 
Molecular Biology of HCVOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 175 |  |  |
| | | from | 175 | | |
Abstract
HCV RNA extracted from two sources , blood serum and frozen liver tissue. When comparison of HCV RNA measurement in serum and in the corresponding liver tissue, it was found that all 128 samples, which were positive in serum by PCR , were also positive in liver tissue extract by PCR. Also, all 68 samples which were negative in serum by PCR, were negative by PCR in liver tissue, therefore measurement of HCV replication in serum is a mirror of viral replication in the liver. In this study a trial was done to determine the prevalence of HCV subtype(s) in Egyptian patients with hepatitis C infection. We used typespecific primers to amplify the core region of HCV by PCR (genotyping). Results of the present study revealed that subtype 4 was the predominant subtype either found alone (47.6 %) or mixed with subtype 2a (35.2 %), while, subtype 2a was found alone in (17.2 %) of cases studied. The present results revealed that, serum IL6 levels in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus were significantly higher (104.2 + 126.8 pg/ml) than those in normal controls (4.8+ 4.7 pg/ml). When we assessed the correlation between serum IL6 and ALT ,we could not identify any relationship between IL6 and ALT. Notably, serum IL6 levels showed a significant correlation with category II of high activity index (HAI) score. This implies that serum IL6 levels in chronic hepatitis C may only reflect the degree of necroinflammatory changes in liver parenchyma.