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Published on: July 16, 2012
Identification of two novel hepatitis C virus subtype 2 from Tunisia (2v and 2w)
Mouna Rajhi1,2,3, Sondes Haddad-Boubaker1,2,3, Anissa Chouikha1,2,3
1Laboratory of Clinical Virology, WHO Regional Reference Laboratory for Poliomyelitis and Measles, for EMR, Pasteur Institute, Tunis, Tunisia.
Background:
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has a high genetic diversity. Eight genotypes and 90 subtypes are currently described. Genotypes are clinically significant for therapeutic management and their determination is necessary for epidemiological studies.
Methods:
Tunisian patients plasma samples (n = 6) with unassigned HCV-2 subtype using partial sequencing in the NS5B and Core/E1 regions were analyzed by realizing whole-genome sequencing analysis. Phylogenetic analyses were performed to assign subtypes.
Results:
Phylogenetic analysis of the full genome sequences of Tunisian strains shows two subtypes within HCV-2. These later were genetically distinct from all previously established HCV-2 subtypes with nucleotide divergence greater than 15% (20% -31%). These two subtypes are proposed as new subtypes 2v and 2w.
Conclusions:
The discovery of two new HCV-2 subtypes circulating in the Tunisian population confirms the great diversity of HCV-2 viruses and increases the total number of HCV-2 subtypes from 21 to 23.
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