This study comprise 400 chronic
HCV adult patients examined to
evaluate the correlations between
serum HCV RNA titers and extent of
hepatic histopathology. Results
showed significant differences of
mean serum HCV RNA titers related
to various grading scores of
necroinflammatory reactions (F test =
7.13 & P value = 0.053) as well as
with various staging scores of fibrosis
(F test = 3.91 & P value = 0.147).
Also, statistically significant
correlations were observed in
patients aged more than 40 years
among serum HCV RNA levels and
various grading scores of
necroinflammatory reactions and
various staging scores of fibrosis, but
these correlations were not linear
and were not related to sex.
In conclusion, HCV RNA titers
cannot predict the extent and severity
of hepatic histopathologic injury and
therefore, cannot replace liver
biopsies. Further studies for
histopathologic injury relationship to
some inflammatory cytokines (TNFa,
IL:10, TGF-13) are needed in an
attempt to search for a noninvasive
predictor of histopathologic injury. |
