HCV-RNA positivity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with chronic HCV infection: does it really mean viral replication?

Table 1 Clinical, virological and therapeutic parameters of 12 patients with chronic HCV infection and treated with IFN-α_2a

Patient No.	Age (yrs)	Sex (U/L)	Genotype	ALT	Therapy regiment (IFN-α )	Duration of therap (month)	Response
1	60	F	1b	30	3 × 3 × 106 IU/week	18	Respond
2	79	M	n.d.	n.d.	2 × 3 × 106 IU/week	19	Respond
3	51	F	1a	34	3 × 3 × 106 IU/week	6	Relaps
					800 mg Ribavirin/day
4	62	M	1b	36	7 × 6 × 106 IU/week	6	Relaps
5	41	M	1b	40	3 × 3 × 106 IU/week	17	Respond
6	63	F	1b	46	3 × 6 × 106 IU/week	14	Relaps
7	61	M	1b	45	7 × 6 × 106 IU/week	6	Respond
8	48	F	1a/1b	36	3 × 3 × 106 IU/week	7	Relaps
					800 mg Ribavirin/day
9	63	F	1b	20	3 × 4.5 × 106 IU/week	12	Relaps
10	60	M	1b	36	3 × 6 × 106 IU/week	12	Relaps
11	53	M	n.d.	92	3 × 9 × 106 IU/week	12	Respond
12	43	F	1a	160	3 × 6 × 106 IU/week	12	Respond
13	53	F	1b	9	3 × 6 × 106 IU/week	12	Respond
					800 mg Ribavirin/day
14	69	F	1b	22	3 × 6 × 106 IU/week	12	Relaps
15	63	M	1a	69	3 × 6 × 106 IU/week	9	Relaps

ALT: alanine transaminase; M: male; F: female; n.d.: not determined; respond: responder; relaps: relapser.