Research in Chronic Viral Hepatitis (Archives of Virology. Supplementa, 8)

Chronic viral hepatitis remains one of the major medical problems worldwide. Neither a cure nor eradication of this disease is in sight. The chronic disease caused by hepatitis viruses type B, C and D is a much greater problem than the acute disease caused by the same viruses or by hepatitis viruses type A and E. Chronic viral hepatitis often remains unrecognized until the patient develops decompensated liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. Furthermore, unrecognized chronic virus carriers are a persistent source of infection by sexual and other close contacts as well as during many medical procedures. The viruses of chronic hepatitis are very different from each other from a taxonomical point of view, but they share many common pathogenic properties and they often coinfect individuals. Six years ago Carlo De Bac, Gloria Taliani (Rome) and I undertook an effort to bring together, under the auspices of the European Society against Virus Diseases, clinicians, laboratory physicians, epidemiologists, pathologists and molecular biologists whose primary research interest is chronic viral hepatitis. The contributions from these quite divergent participants to a meeting devoted solely to chronic viral hepatitis were most stimulating and valuable. As a result of the success of the first meeting in Fiuggi (Italy), a second followed in Siena (Italy) 1990 and the recent third meeting was held in Pisa (Italy). Most of the speakers expressed interest in publishing their contributions in the form of a proceedings volume, as was done in the case of the Siena meeting. Front Matter....Pages i-xi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 In vitro culture systems for hepatitis B and delta viruses....Pages 3-14 Chronic infection in woodchucks infected by a cloned hepatitis delta virus....Pages 15-21 Detection of replicative intermediates of viral RNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from chronic hepatitis C virus carriers....Pages 23-29 Susceptibility of human liver cell cultures to hepatitis C virus infection....Pages 31-39 Front Matter....Pages 41-41 Molecular basis of the diversity of hepatitis B virus core-gene products....Pages 43-52 Characterization of the endogenous protein kinase activity of the hepatitis B virus....Pages 53-62 The hepatitis B virus X gene product transactivates the HIV-LTR in vivo....Pages 63-71 Accumulation of a cellular protein bearing c-myc-like antigenicity in hepatic and non-hepatic delta antigen expressing cells....Pages 73-79 Duck hepatitis B virus infection, aflatoxin B1 and liver cancer in ducks....Pages 81-87 Front Matter....Pages 89-89 Cell mediated immune response to hepatitis B virus nucleocapsid antigen....Pages 91-101 Clinical and immunological aspects of hepatitis B virus infection in children receiving multidrug cancer chemotherapy....Pages 103-111 Hepatitis C virus infection in type II essential mixed cryoglobulinemias....Pages 113-121 Detection of hepatitis B virus DNA by polymerase chain reaction in vaccinated and non-vaccinated Senegalese children....Pages 123-131 Duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) as a model for understanding hepadnavirus neutralization....Pages 133-139 Front Matter....Pages 141-141 Implications of genetic variation on the pathogenesis of hepatitis B virus infection....Pages 143-154 Hepatitis B virus C-gene variants....Pages 155-169 Long-term response to interferon therapy in chronic hepatitis B: importance of hepatitis B virus heterogeneity....Pages 171-178 Significance and relevance of serum preS1 antigen detection in wild-type and variant hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections....Pages 179-187 Complete nucleotide sequences of six hepatitis B viral genomes encoding the surface antigen subtypes ayw4 , adw4q − , and adrq − and their phylogenetic classification....Pages 189-199 Front Matter....Pages 201-201 Role of IgM antibody to hepatitis B core antigen in the diagnosis of hepatitis B exacerbations....Pages 203-211 Front Matter....Pages 201-201 Serum IgM antibodies to hepatitis C virus in acute and chronic hepatitis C....Pages 213-218 Isolate antibody to hepatitis C virus core antigen (C22) by RIBA-2: correlation with HCV-RNA and anti-NS5....Pages 219-228 Is HCV transmitted by the vertical/perinatal route?....Pages 229-234 Front Matter....Pages 235-235 Multiple viral infections in HIV-infected children with chronically-evolving hepatitis....Pages 237-248 Lymphoblastoid interferon in chronic hepatitis C patients who were “non responders” to recombinant interferon alpha (rIFN alpha)....Pages 249-255 Non responders to interferon therapy among chronic hepatitis patients infected with hepatitis C virus....Pages 257-263 The relationship between Le Y antigen and the therapeutic efficacy of interferon in chronic hepatitis C....Pages 265-269 Antibodies to interferon alpha in patients....Pages 271-277 Front Matter....Pages 279-279 Patterns and mechanisms of hepatitis B/hepatitis D reinfection after liver transplantation....Pages 281-289 Hepatitis C virus infection in liver allograft recipients....Pages 291-304 This is an update of the molecular biology and clinical experience on the viruses which cause chronic hepatitis and liver carcinoma in humans and in model animals. Treatment of chronic hepatitis, reinfection after liver transplantation, in vitro replication of hepatitis B, C and D viruses, immunopathogenesis, variants of hepatitis viruses, oncogenicity, epidemiology and diagnosis and prevention are the major topics of the book. Thus, clinicians, laboratory physicians, molecular virologists and public health specialists may equally well profit from this book