Viral load may not be linked to liver damage
Increased intrahepatic hepatitis C virus (HCV) load may not be
associated with more severe liver injury, according to a report
from Australia.
The pathogenesis of HCV induced hepatic injury remains
unidentified and could be attributable to either direct cytopathic
damage by HCV or immune-mediated hepatic injury induced by HCV. It
is also possible that both could act simultaneously.
"One way to identify whether liver damage is attributable to
direct cytopathic damage is to examine whether the degree of viral
load correlates with the degree of liver injury," researcher Peter
H. McGuinness and colleagues wrote ("Intrahepatic HCV RNA Levels Do
Not Correlate with Degree of Liver Injury in Patients with Chronic
Hepatitis C," Hepatology, April 1996;23(4):676-687).
"Most studies addressing this question have measured the amount
of HCV in serum. Ideally, HCV RNA viral load should be estimated
directly from liver tissue itself, because serum levels of virus
may be contributed to and influenced by extrahepatic sources. Also,
the presence of serum immune complexes may introduce further
variables. Doubt has also been raised as to the validity of HCV RNA
quantitation in serum compared with plasma."
HCV has been shown to consist of many distinct genotypes, and
while some investigations have found a link between genotype and
the severity of liver disease, others have not.
"This may be because of the geographical difference in genotype
populations, " McGuinness and colleagues wrote. "Most studies may
be biased toward a subset of genotypes. This may obscure
relationships between genotypes and pathogenicity.
"Many researchers have compared HCV load with genotype in blood.
Most have demonstrated that genotype 1b tends to be associated with
the highest HCV RNA levels. In contrast, there has been no analysis
of the effect of different genotypes on intrahepatic HCV RNA
levels. Therefore, an analysis of intrahepatic HCV RNA levels must
take into account the effect of these genotypes."
In this study McGuinness et al. attempted to determine whether
there was a correlation between liver HCV RNA load and the degree
of liver injury and to examine the effect of interferon alpha
(INF-(alpha)) treatment on hepatic HCV RNA load.
Liver tissues (n = 56) were obtained from 47 patients with
chronic HCV (nine before and after IFN-(alpha) therapy). Total RNA
was isolated and quantitated for specific HCV RNA by dot-blot
polymerase chain reaction (DB-PCR) using a standard curve created
from synthetic HCV RNA of known titer to calculate actual RNA
levels.
A multivariate analysis was undertaken to determine the
relationship of intrahepatic HCV RNA levels with risk factors,
length of HCV exposure, and histological injury scores. The
confounding effect of HCV genotype was examined by direct
sequencing of the NS5b region. Liver HCV RNA ranged from 10(2) to
3.1x10(7) molecules per microgram total liver RNA.
"The multiple regression analysis showed no effect of length of
HCV exposure, risk factors, degree of bile duct damage, steatosis,
or total Scheuer or Knodell score on RNA levels," McGuinness et al.
wrote. "No significant confounding effect of HCV genotype on the
degree of liver injury was observed. However, genotype 1b had a
significantly higher mean intrahepatic HCV RNA load compared with
the other genotypes detected."
In the nine patients who received IFN-(alpha) treatment, seven
had no detectable HCV after treatment. This was associated with a
significant decrease in intrahepatic HCV RNA levels (7.57 +/-
2.53x10(5) to 1. 82 +/-1.80x10(3) molecules per microgram total
liver RNA +/- SEM, n = 9m P = .0005).
The authors conclude that intrahepatic viral load appears to be
significantly increased in patients with genotype 1b, but their
results do not support the hypothesis that increased intrahepatic
HCV load is associated with more severe liver injury.
"These data suggest that the HCV virus does not cause liver
injury by simply expanding the viral load and thus resulting in a
cytopathic process," McGuinness et al. wrote. "The role of
intrahepatic anti-HCV-specific and nonspecific immune responses
therefore needs to be examined. It is clear that anti-HCV-specific
and nonspecific immune responses are detected in this disease.
Their role and the role of intrahepatic cytokine responses in the
induction of chronic HCV liver injury clearly require further
investigation. Careful sequential studies that simultaneously
examine both the virus and the immune response in liver tissue and
serum are also clearly needed."
The corresponding author for this study is Geoffrey W.
McCaughan, The A.W. Morrow Gastroenterology and Liver Center, Royal
Prince Alfred Hospital, Missenden Road, Camperdown NSW 2050,
Australia
. Boyles, Sandra, Viral load may not be linked to liver damage..,
Hepatitis Weekly, 05-06-1996, pp 2.
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