Editorial
Copyright ©2008 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 14, 2008; 14(30): 4725-4734
Published online Aug 14, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.4725
Hepatitis G virus
Vasiliy Ivanovich Reshetnyak, Tatiana Igorevna Karlovich, Ljudmila Urievna Ilchenko
Vasiliy Ivanovich Reshetnyak, Scientific Research Institute of General Reanimatology, Russia Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow 107031, Russia
Tatiana Igorevna Karlovich, Ljudmila Urievna Ilchenko, M.P. Chumakov Institute of Poliomyelitis and Viral Encephalitides, Russia Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow 142782, Russia
Author contributions: Reshetnyak VI, Karlovich TI, Ilchenko LU contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence to: Vasiliy Ivanovich Reshetnyak, Scientific Research Institute of General Reanimatology, Petrovka str. 25-2, Moscow 107031, Russia. v_reshetnyak@yahoo.com
Telephone: +7-495-6946505 Fax: +7-495-6946505
Received: February 20, 2008
Revised: May 10, 2008
Accepted: May 17, 2008
Published online: August 14, 2008
Abstract

A number of new hepatitis viruses (G, TT, SEN) were discovered late in the past century. We review the data available in the literature and our own findings suggesting that the new hepatitis G virus (HGV), disclosed in the late 1990s, has been rather well studied. Analysis of many studies dealing with HGV mainly suggests the lymphotropicity of this virus. HGV or GBV-C has been ascertained to influence course and prognosis in the HIV-infected patient. Until now, the frequent presence of GBV-C in coinfections, hematological diseases, and biliary pathology gives no grounds to determine it as an “accidental tourist” that is of no significance. The similarity in properties of GBV-C and hepatitis C virus (HCV) offers the possibility of using HGV, and its induced experimental infection, as a model to study hepatitis C and to develop a hepatitis C vaccine.

Keywords: Hepatitis G virus, Markers of GBV-C, Epidemiology, Clinical manifestations