Hepatitis G virus/GBV-C in serum, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and bone marrow in patients with hematological malignancies

•HGV infection was analyzed in 115 patients with hematological malignancies.•Search for viral RNA was done in three compartments: serum, PBMC and bone marrow.•HGV infection was detected in 20.0% of patients.•Comparison of HGV 5′UTR sequence between compartments showed differences in three subjects.•Study indicates that bone marrow is a primary replication site for HGV.

BackgroundHGV/GBV-C is highly prevalent in the general population but its significance remains unclear. It is known that HGV/GBV-C is not primary hepatotropic and its replication was reported in PBMC, bone marrow and other tissues. To investigate a possible role of HGV/GBV-C 115 consecutive patients with hematological malignancies were analyzed for virus RNA presence and quasispecies composition in three compartments: serum, PBMC and bone marrow.MethodsRT-PCR was used to amplify 5′UTR HGV/GBV-C in serum, PBMC and bone marrow. Viral sequences obtained from three compartments were subjected for comparative molecular analysis performed by single strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) and pyrosequencing.ResultsHGV/GBV-C RNA was detected in 23 out of 115 (20.0%) patients, most often in bone marrow (18 patients), followed by PBMC (11 patients) and serum (10 patients). Differences in SSCP bands distribution corresponding to different viral variants and confirmed by direct sequencing were observed in three patients.ConclusionHGV/GBV-C infection is frequent in patients with hematological malignancies. Common detection of HGV/GBV-C in bone marrow supports the hypothesis that it is a major replication site of this virus.