Assessment of serum tumor necrosis factor-α and α-fetoprotein in HCV-related chronic liver disease patients

الملخص EN

Background: Host factors associated with development of chronic hepatitis c are far from being well-understood.

However, there has been increasing recognition that the host immune system plays an important role in the natural history of hepatitis c.

There are several lines of evidence suggesting that chronicity and activity ©f HCV infection is related to its interaction with cytokine system.

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) which is produced by activated macrophages and lymphocytes, is a cytokine that may play a pivotal role in determining HCV infection outcome, by causing programmed cell death (apoptosis) of' infected cells.

Subjects: Two groups of HCV-related chronic liver disease (CLD) patients were included, 30 patients with compensated CLD, 30 patients with ' CLD, in addition to 20 apparently-healthy individuals who served as controls.

Methods: For all the subjects, the following tests were done: complete history, clinical examination, hemoglobin concentration and platelet count, liver function tests (LFTs), TNF-a and AFF.

TNF-a and AFF measurement was done employing state-of-the-art solid-phase two-site chemiluminescent enzyme." immunometric assay automated analyzer (Immulite).

Results: The study showed that there was significant elevation of TNF-a levels in HCV-related CLD groups in comparison to control subjects.

However, no significant differences were observed between compensated and decompensated CLD groups.

There was also a significant elevation of serum AFP levels in HCV-related CLD groups in comparison to control subjects.

However, no significant differences were observed between compensated and decompensated CLD groups.

A significant inverse correlation was found between serum albumin and serum in compensated CLD group, also a significant direct correlation was found between serum ALP and serum TNF-a in decompensated CLD group.

However, no correlation was found between serum TNF-a and any other assayed parameters, including AFP.

Conclusion: It is concluded that there is a significant elevation of TNF-a levels in patients with HCV-related CLD; while there is no correlation between TNF-a and AFP levels in those patients.