HCV Positive Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells : Role in Treatment Personalization

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a lymphotropic virus, around 70% of Egyptian HCV patients harbor HCV in their Peripheral blood mononuclear cells. This study aimed to assess the sensitivity of intracellular HCV in PBMC to different antiviral treatments. Materials and methods: 20 chronic HCV patients were tested for genomic and antigenomic strands in PBMC. Patient's PBMC were individually subjected to in vitro treatment with either: interferon/Ribavirin, herbal extract or algae extract. Amplification of HCV by RT PCR strands is used to investigate the antiviral effect. Results: In in vitro tested HCV patients, differential inter individual response to IFN/RBV was reported and this matched their in vivo response. Intra individual response variation was also detected. Inter and intra individual response variation was also shown in results obtained from both the herbal extract and algae extract. Moreover, the herbal extract showed stronger antiviral effect compared to IFN/RBV represented by its eradication of viral strand(s) that were still present upon treatment by IFN/RBV. In contrary, the algae extract couldn't clear the virus strand(s) that IFN/RBV did. Of the most important results, testing IFN from two different sources on the cells of the same patient showed differential response to them. Conclusion: this in vitro antiviral assay can be used for best treatment selection, offering a new tool for treatment personalization.