VIRAL AND IMMUNE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE RECOVERY OR PROGRESSION OF HEPATITIS C

大约15%的患者从丙型肝炎病毒(HCV)中康复 而85%的人会持续感染，导致不同的 相关慢性肝病的程度。在这项研究中，比较 将在那些恢复迅速的患者中进行，那些延迟的患者 康复，持续感染和慢性病稳定的人，以及 那些感染进展迅速、致命的患者。测量的参数 将病毒的负担(最初和随着时间的推移)、丙型肝炎病毒的基因型、数量 时的病毒准物种(病毒异质性程度) 感染，随后，中和抗体反应，如果 合适的技术是可用的，细胞毒性T细胞反应。目标是 是确定这些参数中的任何一个是否可以预测结果，因此 作为治疗决定的辅助工具，尤其是治疗决定 关于早期干预。

Approximately 15% of patients recover from hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection while 85% become persistently infected, resulting in various degrees of associated chronic liver disease. In this study comparisons will be made among patients who rapidly recover, those who have delayed recovery, those with persistent infection and stable chronic disease, and those with rapidly progressive, fatal infection. The parameters measured will be viral burden (initially and over time), HCV genotype, the number of viral quasi-species (extent of viral heterogeneity) at the time of infection and subsequently, neutralizing antibody responses and, if appropriate technology is available, cytotoxic T cell responses. The goal is to determine if any of these parameters can predict outcome and hence serve as adjuncts to therapeutic decisions, particularly decisions regarding early intervention.