Analysis of the 5'UTR of HCV genotype 3 grown in vitro in human B cells, T cells, and macrophages

HCV was cultured in vitro using our system. HCV RNA was isolated from patients' blood and from HCV cultured in various cell types for up to three months. The 5'UTR of these isolates were used for comparisons. Results revealed a number of sequence changes as compared to the serum RNA. The HCV RNA produced efficiently by infected macrophages, B-cells, and T-cells had sequences similar to HCV-1, which suggests that selection of the variants was performed at the level of macrophages. Virus with sequences similar to HCV-1 replicated better in macrophages than HCV having a 5'UTR similar to HCV-3.Although HCV-3 replicates in cell types such as B-cells, T-cells, and macrophages, it may require a different primary cell type for the same purpose. Therefore, in our opinion, HCV-3 does not replicate efficiently in macrophages, and patients infected with HCV-3 may contain a population of HCV-1 in their blood.HCV is associated with a number of diseases, including hepatocellular carcinoma, B-cell lymphomas, and neuropathy. There is an emerging list of diseases that may have some association with this virus. Approximately 8% of HCV-infected individuals in the United States are infected with genotype 3 [1]. The chances of liver damage due to HCV infections may not vary by genotype in untreated individuals [2,3], and infections with HCV-3 are more likely to respond earlier to ribavirin/α-interferon combination therapy than HCV-1 [3-5]. There is evidence that individuals infected with HCV-3 are likely to progress rapidly to liver steatosis [6], and fibrosis [7] compared to infection with HCV-1. Individuals infected with HCV are also frequently infected with other viruses. Hematopoietic cells e.g., HCV infected T-cells, are capable of being co-infected with HIV-1 and HHV-6 [8]. All of the co-infecting viruses continue to replicate in these cells.Although synthetic constructs are commonly used for HCV related studies, we have a system for studying the natural virus isolated from infecte