Distribution of plural HCV types in Japan

Nobuyuki Kato, Yuko Ootsuyama, Showgo Ohkoshi, Takahide Nakazawa, Shigehisa Mori, Makoto Hijikata, Kunitada Shimotohno

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

46 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A detection system was developed to distinguish the four different HCV genomes[HCV-J, HCV-US, HCV-K2 and group II HCV(HCVGII)], involving reverse transcription followed by a nested polymerase chain reaction using specific primers for each HCV type. The putative non-structural(NS) 5 regions of HCV-J, HCV-US and HCVK2 and the putative NS3 region of HCV-GII were amplified. Of 95 specimens from patients with acute hepatitis, chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma, 67 specimens were positive for HCV-J, 2 for HCV-US, 23 for HCV-K2 and 11 for HCV-GII. About half the specimens that were positive for HCV-K2 or HCV-GII were coinfected with HCV-J and all those that were positive for HCV-GII were also positive for HCV-K2. Nucleotide sequence analysis of several amplified cDNA products revealed that HCV-K2 and HCV-GII could each be classified into two groups, and the pattern of classification of HCV-K2 was identical with that of HCV-GII. Therefore, our results strongly suggest that HCV-K2 is the same as HCV-GII.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)279-285
Number of pages7
JournalBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Volume181
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 27 1991

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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