Detection of HCV RNA using reverse transcription and nested polymerase chain reaction in chronic non-A, non-B liver diseases in Korea

To investigate the interrelationship between the anti-HCV prevalence and the HCV RNA positivity in chronic non-A, non-B (NANB) liver diseases in Korea (n=137), we performed RT-nested PCR using 4 primers in the 5′-noncoding region of HCV genome. The overall HCV RNA positive rates were 62.8%; 87.7% (57/65) of anti-HCV positive cases and 40.3% (29/72) of anti-HCV negative cases. Four patterns according to the combination of anti-HCV and HCV RNA assays could be observed; 41.6% in [anti-HCV+/ HCV RNA+], 5.8% in [anti-HCV+/HCV RNA], 21.2% in [anti-HCV+/HCV RNA], and 31.4% in [anti-HCV+/HCV RNA]. Our results suggested that HCV may be still related to chronic NANB liver diseases negative for anti-HCV, and other unknown agents, so-called non-B non-C, might be accounted for patients negative for both, although a low concentration of HCV RNA, or the presence of HCV RNA or HBV DNA in liver tissue should be excluded.