Abstract
Background: Hepatitis C virus infection and its associated liver inflammatorydisease is a major global health problem affecting over 170 million peopleworldwide. Following viral infection, multiple pro-inflammatory mediators contributeto recruitment of immune cells to the liver and to the generation of an anti-viralimmune response. Multiple recent publications mark chemokines and their receptorsas key players in leukocyte recirculation through the inflamed liver. Furthermore,chemokines may also be involved in liver regeneration, fibrosis, and in malignanttransformation, which is induced by the persistence of inflammation. The Aim of thisStudy: The present study aimed to measure serum TNF-α, RANTES and α-defensinslevels in patients with chronic hepatitis C and to estimate their relation to HCVviremia as well as grade of liver inflammation and stage of fibrosis. Materials andMethods: 40 patients with chronic HCV and 20 normal controls were tested for liverfunction tests (Albumin, ALT, AST, ALP, Bilirubin), prothrombin activity, FBS,creatinine, CBC, AFP, HCV RNA, RANTES, TNF-α and α-defensins. Results: Therewere significant increase of serum levels of α-Defensins, RANTES and TNF-α inpatients with chronic HCV infection compared with control group (P<0.05). α-defensins and RANTES showed significant positive correlation with HCV RNA viralload, grade of activity and stage of fibrosis while TNF-α showed significant positivecorrelation with grade of activity and stage of fibrosis only. Conclusion: The highlinear correlation of levels of α-Defensins, RANTES and TNF- with stage of liverfibrosis and grade of activity makes the measurement of these peptides reliablemarkers to evaluate liver fibrosis stage. The effects of these peptides need furtherstudies and researches on a wide scale to clarify their possible mechanisms.
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