en عمومى General پژوهشي Original article Background and Aims: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) can cause hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a significant proportion (≈ 20 %) of individuals with chronic HCV infection (CHC). Currently, CHC is treated with peginterferon and ribavirin, which depending on genotype approximately 50 to 70% of patients are cured. The so-called “extrahepatic HCV infection” or viral replication in regions of the body other than liver, e.g. peripheral mononuclear cells (PBMCs), is likely to contribute to the lack of response to treatment in non-responders. In this study, HCV infection of PBMCs was compared between responders- and non-responders HCV-infected patients. Materials and Methods: RT-nested PCR was utilized to detect the plus- and minus- strands of HCV RNA in PBMCs using type-specific primers specific for the HCV core region. Results: Both the plus- and the minus strands of HCV genome were significantly lower in PBMCs of responder- than non-responder patients. Conclusion: The presence of both plus and minus HCV strands in PBMCs was associated with the treatment outcome, such that HCV infection of PBMCs was identified in higher proportion of non-responders relative to responders. Responder Groups, (End of treatment) ETR, Ribavirin, Interferon, Hepatitis C Virus 18 25 http://journal.isv.org.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-69&slc_lang=en&sid=1 A Alborzi 10031947532846003552 10031947532846003552 No Department of Virology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran T Bamdad 10031947532846003553 10031947532846003553 Yes Department of Virology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran M Ghaderi 10031947532846003554 10031947532846003554 No Department of Virology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran H Salimi 10031947532846003555 10031947532846003555 No Center for Virology, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Department of Infectious Diseases, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia P Davoodian 10031947532846003556 10031947532846003556 No Infectious & Tropical Diseases Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran Sh Merat 10031947532846003557 10031947532846003557 No Digestive Diseases Research Center, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran M Hossainpor 10031947532846003558 10031947532846003558 No Infectious & Tropical Diseases Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran H Jabbari 10031947532846003559 10031947532846003559 No Digestive Diseases Research Center, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran AH Sharifi 10031947532846003560 10031947532846003560 No Digestive Diseases Research Center, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran B Pourhossein 10031947532846003561 10031947532846003561 No Department of Virology, Iran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran