Genetic heterogeneity of hepatitis C virus in association with antiviral therapy determined by ultra-deep sequencing.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) invariably shows wide heterogeneity in infected patients, referred to as a quasispecies population. Massive amounts of genetic information due to the abundance of HCV variants could be an obstacle to evaluate the viral genetic heterogeneity in detail.

Methods

Using a newly developed massive-parallel ultra-deep sequencing technique, we investigated the viral genetic heterogeneity in 27 chronic hepatitis C patients receiving peg-interferon (IFN) α2b plus ribavirin therapy.

Results

Ultra-deep sequencing determined a total of more than 10 million nucleotides of the HCV genome, corresponding to a mean of more than 1000 clones in each specimen, and unveiled extremely high genetic heterogeneity in the genotype 1b HCV population

SUBMITTER: Nasu A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3178558 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature