Serum Neopterin Levels and Viral Load Among Hepatitis C Positive Recipients of Living Donor Renal Transplants

Abstract

© 2011, INASL 4 Results: Of 74 patients screened, 48 patients included. (M:F = 22:26), mean age: 16–52 years median; 22 ± 9 years). Mean documented duration of viremia was 6 months to 12.5 years (median 6.23 ± 2 years). No correlation was observed between serum HBV DNA viral load and HBsAg titers (r = 0.32, p = 0.04) HBeAg positivity correlated with high viral load p = 0.03, r = 0.64), but not with HBsAg titers (p = 0.03, r = 0.34). SGPT has no correlation either with HBsAg titers (p = 0.02, r = 0.31) or viral load. Conclusion: There is no correlation between HBsAg titers and HBV DNA viral load in treatment naive chronic hepatitis B infection without cirrhosis. The contradiction of pretreatment absence of correlation between HBsAg titers and viral load and on treatment projected HBsAg titer correlation to treatment response needs to be addressed by further studies. Conflict of Interest: None Serum Neopterin Levels and Viral Load Among Hepatitis C Positive Recipients of Living Donor Renal Transplants S Justa, RW Minz, M Minz, S Anand, A Sharma Department of Immunopathology; Department of Renal Transplant Surgery; Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India Background and Aim: Neopterin belongs to the group of compounds known as pteridines. Increased concentration of neopterin has been reported in conditions causing stimulation of cellular immunity, such as viral infections and allograft rejection. The aim of this study was to assess the dynamics of serum neopterin during the first 6 months post transplantation among HCV-positive (group I) and negative (group II) recipients of living donor renal transplantation (LDRT). Methods: Twenty two group I and 10 group II patients were serially monitored for serum neopterin levels by ELISA. Group I patients were monitored at three time points i.e. pre-transplantation, day 10 and 6 months post-transplantation. Group II patients were monitored at two time points i.e. day 10 and 6 months post-transplantation. HCV serum viral load was monitored among group I patients by quantitative real time PCR. The histological changes occurring within the first 6 months post transplantation among the study groups were evaluated using Banff classification. Results: There was a significant increase in serum neopterin as well as neopterin to creatinine ratio on day 10 as well as 6-month posttransplantation in comparison to pre-transplantation levels among group I patients. Serum neopterin levels failed to show any association with either HCV viral load or allograft rejection. Conclusion: We did not find any association between neopterin and rejection episodes during the first 6 months post transplantation. Serum neopterin thus failed to delineate a low-risk population which might be spared invasive diagnostic procedures such as protocol biopsy. Nonetheless, our data suggests the use of serum neopterin levels as a possible, surrogate marker of cellular immune response to viral infection after transplantation. Conflict of Interest: None IL28b Genotype in HCV Infected Indian Subjects—A Preliminary Study SS Prasad*, PN Rao**, RM Mukherjee*, K Ashwini*, P Balkumar Reddy*, DN Reddy** *Asian Healthcare Foundation, **Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, Somajiguda, Hyderabad Introduction: It is well known that many patients will not be cured by standard treatment for HCV. A recent study reported that host IL28β polymorphism plays a significant role in clearance of HCV. Thus the present study is aimed to determine an association between host genotype and SVR in HCV patients. Materials and Methods: The study includes 38 patients, who are under standard treatment for HCV. A 3 mL of peripheral blood sample was processed for DNA isolation. PCR-direct sequencing method is employed for genotyping of IL28β polymorphism. The genotyping of HCV is done by reverse hybridization and quantification by RT-PCR. The project is approved by Institutional Ethics Committee and an informed consent was obtained from all the study patients. Results: The average age of patients was 51.6 years. Among them, 8 patients were females. A 21% (n = 8) of them are genotype 1, 42% (n = 16) genotype 2, 11% (n = 4) genotype 3 and for remaining viral genotype has not been done. The distribution of host genotype of IL28β polymorphism (rs129798760) as follows: CC genotype is observed in 74%, CT genotype is observed in 21%, TT genotype is observed in 5% of study patients. A total of 11 cases were discontinued for the treatment due to personal reasons and in 15 cases SVR results are awaited. However, 12 patients have completed the treatment and they were analyzed for the role of host genotype (IL28β) with SVR. Among these 03_JCEH-Abstract.indd 4 3/18/2011 11:13:03 AM