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Background: Although liver biopsy (LB) is the gold standard for the morphological diagnosis of diseases of the liver, recent noninvasive tests may also help in the evaluation of liver fibrosis. We have studied blood fibrosis markers and liver stiffness (LS) measurement to assess fibrosis in different forms of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Patients and methods: Out of 119 HCV-infected patients, 75 had biopsy-proven chronic hepatitis C, 24 had HCV cirrhosis, 20 individuals were symptom-free HCV carriers with persistently normal alanine aminotransferase (PNA), and 30 healthy blood donors served as controls. Wai's aspartate-aminotransferase (AST) to platelet ratio index (APRI) was calculated from serum AST and blood platelet number. Serum HCV-RNA (hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid), procollagen-III-peptide (P-III-P) and hyaluronic acid (HA), plasma transforming growth factor β-1 (TGFβ-1), Knodell's histological activity index (HAI), and METAVIR fibrosis score were determined, and for LS...

Background Since the clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection depends on the cytokines which are under genetic control, we have studied genetic polymorphisms of two pro-inflammatory interleukin-28B (IL-28B) (also named as interferon λ-3) and lymphotoxin-A (LT-A) as well as of one anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) genes in patients with HCV infection. We examined the allele frequencies of these genes in HCV patients as compared with healthy controls, and determined their association with sustained virological response (SVR) on PEG-IFN α-2a + ribavirin (RBV) (P/R) treatment, to assess the predictive value of these genetic variants. A total of 292 chronic HCV genotype 1 infected patients and 104 healthy controls have been studied. The samples were genotyped using PCR-RFLP and ABI Taqman genotyping assay. Results IL-28B — The C/C genotype in HCV patients occurred with lower frequency than in healthy controls (28.11% vs. 51.92%, p = 0.0001, OD 2.76), suggesting a protective role ...

Objectives Since oxidative stress may play a pathogenetic role in chronic hepatitis C and the sustained virological response to antiviral therapy is limited in HCV1 genotype infection, a double blind study was performed in HCV1 patients receiving peginterferon + ribavirin treatment, in order to assess the efficacy of supplementation with an antioxidant flavonoid, silymarin. Patients and Methods 32 naive HCV1-positive patients with biopsy-proven chronic hepatitis C, to be treated with peginterferon + ribavirin, have been randomised as follows: Group A: 16 patients received antiviral therapy for 6 to 12 months plus placebo for the first 3 months; Group B: 16 patients were treated with peginterferon + ribavirin for 6 to 12 months plus they received 166 mg oral silymarin twice a day for 3 months. Serum alanine aminotransferase and HCV RNA levels, as well as parameters of oxidative stress such as plasma or RBC haemolysate malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase and myel...