Pretreatment phylogenetically analyzed subtypes were assessed by univariate analyses in relation with the EVR, ETVR, and SVR. HCV-RNA quantification The concentration of HCV-RNA the was determined by reverse transcription PCR of plasma using CobasAmplicor HCV Monitor version 2.0 (Roche Diagnostics, Branchburg, NJ) following manufacturer’s instructions. HCV-RNA quantification was performed at 4, 12, 48, and 72 weeks of therapy. HCV Genotype HCV genotype was performed using INNO-LiPA HCV II (Innogenetics NV, Ghent, Belgium). Subgenotyping of HCV Nucleic acids were extracted from sera using QIAmpMinElute Virus Spin Kit (QIAGEN, Santa Clarita, CA, USA) following manufacturer’s instructions. Extracted RNA was converted to cDNA as described before.[13] Subgenotyping was performed according to the procedures described by Murphey et al.

[14] PCR product were sequenced using BigDye? Terminator v3.1 Cycle Sequencing Kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA) following manufacturer’s recommendations. DNA sequence was then analyzed using BLASTN 2.2.23+ software (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/) against all sequences in the database for subgenotyping of each sample. The sequence that showed the lowest value and maximum identity was taken as the subgenotype of the sample analyzed. Statistical analysis Data were collected initially in a specialized data collection form, introduced into a Microsoft Excel worksheet, and finally transferred to the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 13.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA) for analysis. Results were reported as mean �� SD.

HCV RNA levels were logarithmically transformed for analysis. Continuous variables were compared using the two-tailed student’s t-test. Categorical data were compared using the two-tailed ��2 test or Fisher’s exact test. Factors associated with any specific subtype were analyzed by univariate analysis. P values ��0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS The average age of 64 (male:female = 41:23) Saudi patients was 38.7 �� 11.5 years. There was a positive history of transfusion of blood or blood products in 22 patients (34%) before 1991, while 25 patients (39%) did not give history of any significant illness in their life that could be attributed to the mode of HCV transmission.

Another 10 patients (16%) were infected during the period of dialysis (they were HCV negative before the initiation of dialysis), and the remaining 7 (11%) had definite history of surgery (before 1991) but denied receiving blood transfusion [Figure 1]. None of the patient in our cohort had a history of IV drug abuse and only one patient had HIV that was transmitted by factor VIII (AHF) transfusion (before the discovery of HCV virus). No family history of HCV infection and no history of vertical or sexual transmission were reported. AV-951 Figure 1 Possible mode of hepatitis C virus transmission The prevalence of HCV-4 sub-genotypes were 4a = 48.