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Correlation of biological serum markers with the degree of hepatic fibrosis and necroinflammatory activity in hepatitis C and schistosomiasis patients
de Morais, Clarice Neuenschwander Lins; Carvalho, Bruno de Melo; de Melo, Wlademir Gomes; de Melo, Fábio Lopes; Lopes, Edmundo Pessoa de Almeida; Domingues, Ana Lúcia Coutinho; Jucá, Norma; Martins, João Roberto Maciel; Diniz, George Tadeu Nunes & Montenegro, Silvia Maria Lucena
Abstract
Liver biopsy is the gold-standard method to stage fibrosis; however, it is an invasive procedure and is potentially
dangerous. The main objective of this study was to evaluate biological markers, such as cytokines IL-13, IFN-γ,
TNF-α and TGF-β, platelets, bilirubins (Bil), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST),
total proteins, γ-glutamil transferase (γ-GT) and alkaline phosphatase (AP), that could be used to predict the
severity of hepatic fibrosis in schistosomiasis and hepatitis C (HC) as isolated diseases or co-infections. The following
patient groups were selected: HC (n = 39), HC/hepatosplenic schistosomiasis (HSS) (n = 19), HSS (n = 22) and a
control group (n = 13). ANOVA and ROC curves were used for statistical analysis. P < 0.05 was considered
significant. With HC patients we showed that TNF-α (p = 0.020) and AP (p = 0.005) could differentiate mild and severe
fibrosis. With regard to necroinf lammatory activity, AST (p = 0.002), γ-GT (p = 0.034) and AP (p = 0.001) were the
best markers to differentiate mild and severe activity. In HC + HSS patients, total Bil (p = 0.008) was capable of
differentiating between mild and severe fibrosis. In conclusion, our study was able to suggest biological markers that
are non-invasive candidates to evaluate fibrosis and necroinf lammatory activity in HC and HC + HSS.
Keywords
biological markers - hepatic fibrosis - HC - schistosomiasis
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