Pathologic influence of hepatitis C virus infection in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract EN

Background The prevalence of infection with hepatitis-C virus (HCV) in Egypt is increasing and being one of the major health problems nowadays.

Chronic infection with hepatotoxic virus C has been established to be associated with several extra hepatic manifestations and many studies reported that chronic HCV infection might deteriorate lung function in those patients who already have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Aim : this study aimed to find if there is a specific pathology in the airways of HCV positive patients for possible contribution of infection of HCV to accelerate the pathogenesis of COPD Methods : this study was conducted on 20 patients (16 males and 4 females) with COPD both chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

Another 10 patients (8 males and 2, females) positive for HCV infection having no history of any respiratory problems were taken as a control.

HCV-RNA was detected by b- DNA PCR Bronchoscopy was conducted using a fiteroptic broncoscope and HCV was detected in bronchial biopsies by IHC staining Results : this study showed 5 out of the 20 cases with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were hepatitis C virus positive by polymerase chain reaction (25%) and found a significant statistical differences between HCV positive cases and HCV negative cases as regards the neutrophil and lymphocytic infiltrations in biopsy specimens.

HCV was detected in biopsy specimens in 2 out of 5 cases.