Negative‐Strand Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) RNA in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Anti‐HCV–Positive/HIV‐Infected Women
1Department of Medicine, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona; Departments of 2Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Center for Infectious Diseases and Virology and 3Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles; 4Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois; and 5Warsaw Medical University, Warsaw, Poland
Background.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been reported to replicate in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), particularly in patients coinfected with HCV and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, there are limited data regarding the prevalence of and the factors associated with extrahepatic replication.
Methods.The presence of negative‐strand HCV RNA in PBMCs was evaluated by a strand‐specific assay for 144 anti‐HCV–positive/HIV‐infected women enrolled in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study. One to 5 PBMC samples obtained from each woman were tested. Multivariate analyses were used to assess for associations with the clinical and demographic characteristics of the women.
Results.Negative‐strand HCV RNA was detected in 78 (25%) of 315 specimens, and, for 61 women (42%), 
1 specimen was found to have positive results. The presence of negative‐strand HCV RNA in PBMCs was significantly positively associated with an HCV RNA plasma level of 6.75 log copies/mL (
) and consumption of 7 alcoholic drinks per week (
). It was also negatively associated with injection drug use occurring in the past 6 months (
). A negative association with a CD4+CD38+DR+ cell percentage of >10% and a positive association with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome were borderline significant (
).
Conclusions.HCV replication in PBMCs is common among HIV‐coinfected women and appears to be a dynamic process related to lifestyle, virologic, and immunologic factors.
Received 27 July 2006; accepted 31 August 2006; electronically published 27 November 2006.
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Online publication date: 1-Aug-2009.
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Potential conflicts of interest: none reported.
Financial support: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID; grant RO1 A1052065 to A.K.); NIAID, with supplemental funding from the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (grants UO1‐AI‐35004, UO1‐AI‐31834, UO1‐AI‐34994, UO1‐AI‐34989, UO1‐AI‐34993, and UO1‐AI‐42590), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grant UO1‐HD‐23632), the National Center for Research Resources (grants MO1‐RR‐00071, MO1‐RR‐00079, and MO1‐RR‐00083), and the Institute of Mental Health (grant 1R21 MH073422‐01A1 to T.L.).