Hepatitis G
| GB virus C | |
|---|---|
| Virus classification | |
| Group: | Group IV ((+)ssRNA) |
| Order: | Unassigned |
| Family: | Flaviviridae |
| Genus: | Pegivirus |
| Species: | Pegivirus C |
GB virus C (GBV-C), formerly known as hepatitis G virus (HGV) and also known as Human pegivirus – HPgV is a virus in the Flaviviridae family and a member of the Pegivirus genus, is known to infect humans, but is not known to cause human disease. There have been reports that HIV patients coinfected with GBV-C can survive longer than those without GBV-C, but the patients may be different in other ways. There is current active research into the virus' effects on the immune system in patients coinfected with GBV-C and HIV.
The majority of immune-competent individuals clear GBV-C viraemia, but in some individuals infection persists for decades. However, the time interval between GBV-C infection and clearance of viraemia (detection of GBV-C RNA in plasma) is not known.
Approximately 2% of healthy US blood donors are viraemic with GBV-C, and up to 13% of blood donors have antibodies to E2 protein, indicating possible prior infection.
Parenteral, sexual and vertical transmission of GBV-C have been documented. Because of shared modes of transmission, individuals infected with HIV are often coinfected with GBV-C; the prevalence of GBV-C viraemia in HIV patients ranges from 14 to 43%.
Several but not all studies have suggested that coinfection with GBV-C slows the progression of HIV disease.In vitro models also demonstrated that GBV-C slows HIV replication. This beneficial effect may be related to action of several GBV-C viral proteins including NS5A phosphoprotein and E2 envelope protein.
It has a single stranded positive RNA genome of about 9.3 kb and contains a single open reading frame (ORF) encoding two structural (E1 and E2) and five non-structural (NS2, NS3, NS4, NS5A, and NS5B) proteins. GB-C virus does not appear to encode a C (core or nucleocapsid) protein like, for instance, hepatitis C virus. Nevertheless, viral particles have been found to have a nucleocapsid. The source of the nucleocapsid protein remains unknown.
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