HCV replication in PBMC and its influence on interferon therapy

Table 1 HCV plus and minus RNA and HCVNS5 in PBMCs

	HCVRNA		HCVNS5
	Plus	minus	positive
Acute hepatitis C	10/19 (52.6%)	1/19 (5.3%)b	0/10 (0%)d
Chronic hepatitis C	22/35 (62.9%)	14/35 (40.0%)b	17/20 (85%)d

^bComparison of the detection rates of HCV minus-RNA between acute and chronic hepatitis C, u = 2.07, P < 0.05;

^dComparison of the detection rates of HCV NS5 protein between acute and chronic hepatitis C, u = 4.43, P < 0.01.

Table 2 The influence of HCVRNA in PBMC on interferon response

	HCVRNA plus strand		HCVRNA minus strand
	Positive	Negative	Positive	Negative
ETR (Biochemical)	13 (59.1%)	7 (53.7%)	8 (57.1%)	13 (61.9%)
ETR (Virological)	11 (50.0%)	9 (69.2%)	6 (42.9%)	12 (57.1%)
SR-6 (Biochemical)	8 (36.7%)	6 (46.2%)	2 (14.3%)a	9 (42.8%)a
SR-6 (Virological)	6 (27.3%)	5 (38.5%)	1 (7.1%)c	7 (33.3)c

^aComparison of biochemical SR-6 between HCV minus-RNA positive and negative groups, χ² = 4.12, P < 0.05;

^cComparison of virological SR-6 between HCV minus-RNA positive and negative groups, χ² = 4.24, P < 0.05.