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The clinical significance of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes is still under debate. The aims of this study were to assess the distribution of HBV genotypes in France and to identify the associations between HBV genotypes and patient demographics, severity of liver disease and HBeAg status in patients referred to tertiary care centres. This was a French, multicentre, retrospective study on 262 patients with chronic HBV infection. HBV genotypes were determined using INNO-LiPA. Liver fibrosis damage was evaluated by histological analysis of biopsy samples. Patients were mainly male (74%), of Caucasian (65%), Asian (17%) or African (18%) ethnicity and 36% were HBeAg positive. All A–G genotypes were found, the most frequent being genotypes D (27%) and A (24%), followed by E (13%) and C (12%), and B (7%). Mixed genotypes were detected in 16% of the cases. Genotype A was associated with sexual contact ( P < 0.001) and genotype D with transfusion ( P < 0.001) and HBe antibody positivity ( P = 0.03).The distribution of HBV genotypes differed with regard to the ethnicity, and may reflect migration patterns. Genotypes A and D were the most frequent in France. Genotype A was associated with HBeAg positivity and genotype D with HBe antibody positivity. In our European patients, we find no clear association between a given HBV genotype and liver disease severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

summary. Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is frequently associated with type II mixed cryoglobulinaemia (MC), a benign lymphoproliferative disease (LPD). More recently, HCV has been implicated as a possible aetiologic factor of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL). CD81, a B-cell surface receptor, has been proposed as a receptor for HCV binding and entry in circulating B cells. The stimulation of CD81 complex enables B cells to respond to lower concentrations of antigen and finally induces B-cell proliferation. We studied the phenotypic expression of CD81, CD19 and CD5 on circulating B cells in HCV patients LPD-positive or LPD-negative. Sixty-two patients were anti-HCV antibody positive. Among HCV positive patients, 44 were HCV RNA positive with an histologically proven chronic active hepatitis of whom 10 had a B-NHL, 14 an MC and 24 no extrahepatic manifestation. Eighteen patients were HCV RNA negative with evidence of resolved infection. A control group included 40 healthy subjects. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were stained for surface expression of CD81, CD19 and CD5 using monoclonal antibodies, and were analyzed by flow cytometry. The percentage of PBMC expressing CD81, CD19 and CD5 receptors were compared between the groups by univariate analysis. Logistic regression model variables were then evaluated to correlate the presence of an LPD with HCV infection characteristics (i.e. age, gender, genotype, duration of infection, HCV RNA positivity, liver histological lesions), or phenotypic expression of CD81, CD19 and CD5 receptors on PBMC. HCV antibody-positive compared with HCV-negative subjects had a higher expression of CD19 receptor (23 ± 13 vs 13 ± 1%, P = 0.003). Among HCV RNA positive-patients, LPD+ compared with LPD– patients had a lower expression of CD81 (58 ± 28 vs 82 ± 18%, P = 0.001) and CD5 receptor (66 ± 16 vs 74 ± 13%, P = 0.04). In multivariate analysis, the expression of CD81 receptor... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

summary. Different isolates of hepatitis C virus (HCV) show nucleotide sequence variability throughout the genome. Detection of antibodies to recombinant proteins derived from hepatitis C virus genotype 1, the prototype HCV clone HCV-PT, constitutes the main method for screening HCV infection. The influence of the genomic variability on the serological diagnosis of HCV by enzyme immunoassay remains poorly defined. The aim of this study was to assess the serological reactivity of a panel of well characterized French HCV isolates typed by sequence analysis from patients with chronic hepatitis. The 73 sera samples were tested in three third generation EIA tests and three confirmatory assays. HCV isolates were determined by RT-PCR and sequencing in NS5B region of the genome. The 73 sera were positive in the three EIA tests. The three confirmatory tests showed a weaker reactivity with NS5 protein whatever the genotype, and a lower reactivity in NS4 antigens of non-type 1 sequences, particularly for genotype 3. Even though the reactivity of the antigens differed among the HCV isolates, the 73 isolates from genotype 1–6 were reactive with the three commercial screening assays. These results demonstrate that using a single test is adequate in the routine diagnosis of HCV infection in clinical laboratory, as recommended by the last French and Europeen consensus conference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes are distributed differently depending on geography and route of infection. We characterized the distribution of genotypes in a large cohort of patients with chronic hepatitis C in the South-east of France and evaluated the relative prevalence according to time of acquisition. One thousand, one hundred-and-eighty-three patients who were anti-HCV-positive were studied. HCV genotype distribution has changed significantly from the 1960s to 2000. The prevalence of genotype 1b decreased from 47% before 1978 to 18.8% in the 1990s while the prevalence of genotype 1a and 3a increased during the same period from 18% and 15.3% to 28.8% and 26.3%, respectively. The logistic regression model showed that genotype 1a was significantly more common in patients infected through intravenous drug injection odds ratio ((OR): 2.08, P < 0.01) and after 1990 (OR: 1.98, P < 0.05). Genotype 1b was significantly less frequent in patients infected through intravenous drug injection (OR: 0.17, P < 0.001) and has decreased since 1978 (OR: 0.27, P < 0.001). Genotype 3a was independently associated with intravenous drug injection (OR: 6.1, P < 0.001) and tattooing (OR: 8.01, P < 0.001) and was more frequent in the 1979–90 period (OR: 2.05 and 1.74, P < 0.001 and P < 0.05). Our results show a modification of HCV genotypes distribution over the last four decades due to an increase of intravenous drug use (IVDU) contamination and an evolution of HCV genotypes distribution only in IVDU population characterized by a decrease of genotype 1b, an increase of genotype 3a from 1970 to 1990 and a higher increase of genotype 1a which is currently the predominant genotype in our population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1Department of Infectious Diseases, and 2Laboratory of Virology, General Hospital, Toulon and 3Laboratory Alphabio, Marseilles, France Objective To measure the evolution of proviral HIV-1 DNA levels in patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) compared to those treated with HAART plus interleukin-2 (IL-2) and hydroxyurea. Design Prospective randomised trial. Methods Twenty-two HIV-1 infected patients were randomly assigned to a five-drug antiretroviral regimen for 72 weeks, with or without IL-2, followed by a three-drug regimen up to week 120 with additional hydroxyurea in patients having received IL-2. HIV-1 DNA levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were measured regularly using the Amplicor Monitor kit from Roche Diagnostics (Meylan, France). Potentially infectious HIV-1 was cultured in enhanced conditions from circulating CD4 T cells at week 120. Results During the study period of 120 weeks, HIV-1 DNA levels in PBMC decreased by -1.1 log in patients treated with HAART only compared with -1.8 log in patients with additional IL-2 and hydroxyurea. A two-phase decay rate was observed, with an inflexion point at 12 weeks. The second decay was slow, with mean half-lives of 130.1 ± 21.3 weeks and 95.1 ± 26.3 weeks for patients on HAART and those receiving additional IL-2 and hydroxyurea, respectively. At week 120, one out of 11 patients with HAART alone compared to six out of 11 in the group with IL-2 and hydroxyurea had undetectable proviral DNA levels and three of them had unsuccessful recovery of replication-competent HIV-1 from blood CD4 T cells. Conclusion Therapeutic strategies combining HAART and immune interventions have higher potency to decrease the number of infected cells than HAART alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. Patients infected with hepatitis C virus genotype 4 (HCV-4) respond to interferon alpha (IFN) as poorly as those infected with genotype 1. However, there is no information on the viral dynamics of HCV-4. Interferon–ribavirin treatment was administered to untreated patients infected with HCV-4. Viral load was assessed with Versant 3.0. Viral dynamics parameters were estimated based on the bi-phasic model for HCV during IFN treatment. Viral kinetics of HCV-4 follow a bi-phasic decline pattern also. The mean effectiveness of IFN in blocking production of HCV-4 was a decline of 77.8% during the first day of treatment. The half-life of free virions was estimated at 3.5 h and that of infected cells from 1.9 to over 70 days. The viral dynamics parameters of HCV-4 appear similar to those of HCV-1 and slower than those of HCV-2. HCV-4 infected patients should be grouped with those with HCV-1 when therapeutic schemes are considered in relation to genotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]