Abstract
BackgroundAssociation between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC) still remains controversial. This work is concerned with assessing the potential role of H. pylori in the progression of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related chronic liver disease. ResultsA total of 449 individuals constituted this study (200 individuals were used to validate the assay while 249 individuals were used to assess the correlation between H. pylori infection and CHC). H. pylori antigen was quantified in serum samples using ELISA. As a consequence, our findings showed that H. pylori positivity was increased significantly (P = 0.021) with liver fibrosis progression as it was found in 44.45% of fibrotic patients and 71.88% of cirrhotic patients. We demonstrated that patients with F4 were accompanied by a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the concentration of H. pylori antigen displaying 16.52-fold and 1.34-fold increase in its level over F0 and F1-F3, respectively. Patients co-infected with H. pylori and HCV are 3.19 times (219%) more likely to experience cirrhosis than those who are mono-infected with HCV. This suggests that the risk for developing F4 was found to increase upon H. pylori co-infection when compared to CHC mono-infected patients. ConclusionThe elevated levels of H. pylori-antigen in HCV/H. pylori co-infection suggest increased susceptibility of co-infected patients for promoting hepatic fibrosis progression.
Highlights
Association between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC) still remains controversial
Our findings demonstrated that patients who had hepatic cirrhosis were accompanied by a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the concentration of H. pylori antigen when compared to those with F0 and F1‐F3
Variables were expressed as mean ± SEM a Reference values: alanine aminotransferase (ALT); aspartate aminotransferase (AST); total bilirubin up to 1 mg/dL; albumin 3.8‐5.4 g/dL; platelet count 150‐400 × 109/L; alpha fetoprotein (AFP) up to 10 U/L
Summary
Association between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC) still remains controversial. This work is concerned with assessing the potential role of H. pylori in the progression of hepatitis C virus (HCV)related chronic liver disease. Its prevalence varies widely in different parts of the world with higher rates in developing countries. In most instances, it is acquired during childhood, and is often associated with low socioeconomic class [1, 2]. It is acquired during childhood, and is often associated with low socioeconomic class [1, 2] It produces chronic gastritis by provoking local inflammatory response in the epithelium through release of a range of cytokine [3]. The World Health Organization classifies the bacterium as a class I
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