Occult HCV infection revisited with ultra-sensitive real-time PCR assay

Laboratoire Alphabio, Hôpital Ambroise Paré Marseille, Département d'Hépato-Gastroentérologie, Hôpital Saint-Joseph, Marseille, Département d'Hépato-Gastroentérologie, Institut Arnault Tzanck, Saint-Laurent du Var, Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, CNRS, UMR 7087 - AP-HP, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Service de Médecine Interne, Paris, France; Département Biostatistiques, CDL Pharma, Marseille

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: philippe.halfon{at}alphabio.fr.

	Abstract

Occult hepatitis C infection is regarded as a new entity that should be considered when diagnosing patients with a liver disease of unknown origin. Using an ultra-sensitive real-time PCR assay, we demonstrated that occult HCV infection cannot be found in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients with cryptogenic liver diseases, HCV-associated systemic vasculitis, or connective tissue diseases. The significance of such occult infection must be elucidated.