Hepatitis C virus induces nasal epithelial erosion and sub-epithelial rhinitis.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) affects extra-hepatic organs, but its effect on the nose is poorly defined. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the histological changes in nasal tissue induced by HCV and whether the nasal mucosa harbors the virus for extrahepatic replication. STUDY DESIGN: We investigated nasal biopsies from 20 patients with HCV infection, and from 10 control subjects. All biopsies were subjected to real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) as well as histology. RESULTS: Our analyses showed that 60% of HCV positive samples showed nasal epithelial erosion, 95% showed subepithelial non-specific inflammation and/or fibrosis, while only 5% showed normal histology. However, none of the twenty PCR samples showed the presence of HCV nucleic acids sequences in the nasal tissues. On the other hand, all control subjects had normal histology and the absence of the viral m-RNA in the PCR (100%). CONCLUSIONS: HCV induces histopathological rhinitis with nasal epithelial erosion. However, it does not seem that the nasal tissue harbors the virus.