%0 Journal Article %A Baré, Patricia %A Massud, Ivana %A Parodi, Cecilia %A Belmonte, Liliana %A García, Gabriel %A Nebel, Marcelo Campos %A Corti, Marcelo %A Pinto, Miguel Tezanos %A Bianco, Raúl Pérez %A Bracco, María M. %A Campos, Rodolfo %A Ares, Beatriz Ruibal %T Continuous release of hepatitis C virus (HCV) by peripheral blood mononuclear cells and B-lymphoblastoid cell-line cultures derived from HCV-infected patients %D 2005 %J Journal of General Virology, %V 86 %N 6 %P 1717-1727 %@ 1465-2099 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.80882-0 %I Microbiology Society, %X In order to investigate hepatitis C virus (HCV) persistence and replication in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from a group of haemophilic individuals, HCV production and release to PBMC culture supernatants (SNs) from HCV singly infected patients and HIV/HCV co-infected patients was studied. HCV RNA+ SNs were found more frequently from HIV/HCV co-infected individuals (89·5 %) with poor reconstitution of their immune status than from singly HCV-infected patients (57 %) or from HIV/HCV co-infected individuals with a good response to highly active anti-retroviral therapy (50 %). The presence of the HCV genome in culture SNs was associated with lower CD4+ T-cell counts and with a more severe clinical picture of HIV infection. In spite of prolonged negative HCV viraemia, PBMC from HIV/HCV co-infected patients released the HCV genome after culture. HCV permissive PBMC allowed generation of HCV productive B cell lines with continuous HCV replication. These findings add further weight to the involvement of PBMCs in persistence of HCV infection and emphasize the role of B lymphocytes as HCV reservoirs. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.80882-0