ABSTRACT
To investigate peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) infected by hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the influenceon T lymphocyte subset. Methods: Using non-isotopic in situ hybridization (NISH) and streptadivin-biotin-enzyme complex assay (SABC) todetect HCV-RNA, NS5 antigen and T lymphocyte subset. Results: 8(40.0% ) out of 20 patients with hepatitis C virus were HCV-RNA posi-tive in PBMCs, and among them 6(30.0％) were NS5 antigen positive simultaneously. NS5 antigen signals appeared diffusely within cyto-plasm, or in cell membrane, while HCV-RNA signals were mainly distributed in cytoplasm. Both the proportion of NS5 positive cell and HCV-RNA positive cells were very low (≤3％).The proportion of positive cellsane, while HCV-RNA signals are very low (≤3％). The proportionof CD4+ T cells was lower in the patients comparing with that in control group, the proportion of CD8+ T cells was higher, and the ratio ofCD4+/CD8+ were decreased remarkably (P＜0.01). Moreover the proportion of CD4+ T cells was lower in HCV-RNA-positive group com-paring with that in HCV-RNA-negative group, the proportion of CD8+ T cells was higher, and the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ was reversed (P＜0.01). Conclusion:HCV can infect PBMCs and replicate in patients with chronic hepatitis C;CD4+ T cells are readily damaged after PBMCsinfected by HCV, which causes the decrease or reversal of the ratio of CD4+/CD8+, undermines the ability of the body clearing virus and re-sults im chronicity of HCV infection.