Study Of Mother-to-infant Transmission Of Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) was first isolated in 1989 by the American scholar Choo from blood of infected chimpanzees. About 180 million people are infected with hepatitis C virus worldwide, with an incidence of 3~4 million each year, according to the World Health Organization. In China, a general population of anti-HCV positive rate was 3.2%, about 40 million people were infected with HCV, according to a recent national epidemiological survey.The major transmission route of HCV is through blood or blood products. Nearly 80% of HCV transmission route can be identified, such as intravenous drug use, sharing of needles and syringe (>60%); sexual contact and close contact with family members (15%), but there are about 10% to 20% of people yet to be confirmed transmission. With the enhancement of the detection of blood products and the improvement of the detection technology, transmission incidence by blood transfusion of blood products has been greatly reduced. Although at preset the HCV vertical transmission rate is about 10%, no effective way to block mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) was developed. There are studies that MTCT of HCV may become the major route of HCV infection in the future. Despite an increased understanding of the risk factors involved in perinatal transmission of HCV, to date little is known about the transmission mechanisms and timing.To explore possible mechanisms of vertical transmission of HCV, we have done the following work in this study:Firstly, the placental villis from different periods of pregnancy were isolated and studied; the histological distribution and morphological feature were also observed.Secondly, a simple and stable method of isolation and culture of trophoblast cells in vitro was established.Thirdly, CD81 and LDLR expressions were found in cultured trophoblast cells and different placenta villis during pregnancy by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence.Fourthly, a hypothesis is suggested based on the research finding that is controlling the mother-to-child transmission by blocking HCV infection in the late pregnancy period is theoretically possible.