Molecular Cloning and Disease Association of Hepatitis G Virus: A Transfusion-Transmissible Agent

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 271; no. 5248; pp. 505 - 508
• Main Authors: Linnen, Jeff, Wages, John, Zhang-Keck, Zhen-Yong, Fry, Kirk E., Krawczynski, Krzysztof Z., Alter, Harvey, Koonin, Eugene, Gallagher, Margaret, Alter, Miriam, Hadziyannis, Stephanos, Karayiannis, Peter, Fung, Kevin, Nakatsuji, Yoshiyuki, Shih, J. Wai-Kuo, Young, Lavonne, Piatak, Michael, Hoover, Cameron, Fernandez, John, Chen, Stacie, Zou, Jian-Chao, Morris, Timothy, Hyams, Kenneth C., Ismay, Susan, Lifson, Jeffrey D., Hess, Georg, Steven K. H. Foung, Thomas, Howard, Bradley, Daniel, Margolis, Harold, Kim, Jungsuh P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 26.01.1996; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Amino Acid Sequence; Amino acids; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Blood donation; Blood Donors; Blood transfusions; Blood-Borne Pathogens; Chronic Disease; Cloning; Cloning, Molecular; Complementary DNA; Consensus Sequence; Discovery and exploration; Disease Transmission, Infectious; Etiology; Flaviviridae - genetics; GB virus C; Genome, Viral; Hepatitis; hepatitis G virus; Hepatitis Viruses - chemistry; Hepatitis Viruses - genetics; Hepatitis Viruses - isolation & purification; Hepatitis, Viral, Human - epidemiology; Hepatitis, Viral, Human - transmission; Hepatitis, Viral, Human - virology; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Libraries; Medical sciences; Molecular Sequence Data; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Polyproteins; RNA; RNA viruses; RNA Viruses - chemistry; RNA Viruses - genetics; RNA Viruses - isolation & purification; RNA, Viral - blood; RNA, Viral - genetics; Sequence Alignment; Transfusion Reaction; United States - epidemiology; Viral diseases; Viral hepatitis; Viral Proteins - chemistry; Viral Proteins - genetics; Viremia - epidemiology; Viremia - virology; Viruses; Infection; Human; Plasma; Viral hepatitis; RNA virus; Viremia; Viral disease; Digestive diseases; Hepatic disease; Identification; Transmission from man to man
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.271.5248.505

An RNA virus, designated hepatitis G virus (HGV), was identified from the plasma of a patient with chronic hepatitis. Extension from an immunoreactive complementary DNA clone yielded the entire genome (9392 nucleotides) encoding a polyprotein of 2873 amino acids. The virus is closely related to GB virus C (GBV-C) and distantly related to hepatitis C virus, GBV-A, and GBV-B. HGV was associated with acute and chronic hepatitis. Persistent viremia was detected for up to 9 years in patients with hepatitis. The virus is transfusion-transmissible. It has a global distribution and is present within the volunteer blood donor population in the United States.