Hepatitis C virus may infect extrahepatic tissues in patients with hepatitis C

Table 1 Results of HCV RNA and HCV antigens detection in extrahepatic organs and livers

Tissue	Cases	HCV RNA (+)			HCV antigens (+)
		RT-PCR		ISH	NS3	NS5	CP10
Kidney	9	7	4*	3	6	5	4
Heart	9	5	3*	2	5	4	4
Pancreas	9	5	3*	2	6	6	5
Intestine	5	3/4	1/4*	1	3	2	0
Adrenal gland	2			1	1	1	0
Spleen	2			0	0	0	0
Lymph node	1			1	1	1	1
Gallbladder	1			1	1	0	1
Liver	9	9	7*	9	8	7	7

Note:

^*Minus-strand RNA detected. The positivity of minus-strand RNA detected by RT-PCR was consistent with that of HCV RNA and HCV antigens detected by ISH and immunohistochemistry (Kappa = 0.42-0.75).