The Changes of Hepatitis C Virus Gene Subtypes and RNA Loads in the Development of Chronic Hepatitis C Patients in Yunnan / 昆明医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the changes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) gene subtypes and RNA loads in chronic hepatitis C, HCV－related liver cirrhosis and HCV－related hepatocellular carcinoma patients in Yunnan. Methods 241 patients were enrolled at the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University (Yunnan, China) from January 2016 to April 2017. Among them, 169 patients were with chronic hepatitis C, 56 patients with HCV－related liver cirrhosis and 16 patients with HCV－related hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV gene subtype and RNA loads were measured using the Polymerase Chain Reaction－fluorescence probe method. Results In the chronic hepatitis C group,there were 47 subtype 3b cases (27.81%) . 17 cases of HCV－related liver cirrhosis were subtype 1b (30.36%);5 patients with HCV－related hepatocellular carcinoma were subtype 3b (31.25%) . There was no statistical difference distribution of the genotype among the three groups (P＞0.05) .The HCV RNA loads of the chronic hepatitis C group, HCV － related liver cirrhosis group and HCV － related hepatocellular carcinoma group were (332±114) copies/mL, (189±73) copies/mL and (152±56) copies/mL respectively. The difference among three groups were significant (P＜0.01).The chronic hepatitis C group was significantly higher than the other two groups, and the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.01) . But no significant difference of HCV RNA loads was found between HCV － related liver cirrhosis and HCV － related hepatocellular carcinoma group (t=0. 65,P＜0.05) . Conclusion In Yunnan, 3b was main genotype in chronic hepatitis C patients and 1b was main genotype in HCV－related liver cirrhosis, 3b was main genotype in HCV－related hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV RNA loads tend to decrease in the progress that chronic hepatitis C develops into HCV－related liver cirrhosis and HCV－related hepatocellular carcinoma.