Percent of patients harboring HCV RNA sequences in total PBMC: correlation with viral load and viral genotype. Serum (250 μL) and PBMC (2 × 106 cells) from 38 patients were processed as described in Materials and Methods. Titration of HCV RNA in serum was performed by means of the bDNA assay (HCV RNA 2.0 assay). All indicated genotypes were deduced fom concordant results obtained from three genotyping assays. Titers < 2 × 105 genome equivalents/ml (Eq/mL) were considered equal to 2 × 105 Eq/ml for representation in the figure. (2A): detection of the positive strand RNA; (2B): detection of the negative strand RNA. Subtype distribution in co-infected patients was: subtype 1a, n = 5, subtype 1b, n = 1. Open circles indicate individual viral titers for each patient while black symbols represent the mean titers for each group of patients represented.
