INFLAMMATORY, BIOCHEMICAL, AND OXIDATIVE STRESS MARKERS IMPROVE IN PATIENTS WITH HEPATITIS C VIRUS INFECTION USING COMBINED TREATMENT
Juliana Mezzomo, Vinícius Tejada Nunes, Patrícia Martinez Oliveira, Mariana Ziolkowsk, Raqueli Bittencourt, Jacqueline da Costa Escobar Piccoli and Vanusa Manfredini*
ABSTRACT
Background: Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is asymptomatic in the vast majority of cases. Studies indicate that oxidative stress may be involved in CHC progression. Treatment of carriers includes combined antiviral therapy. However, research indicates that patients with CHC in combination treatment develop several systemic adverse side effects. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine inflammatory, biochemical, and oxidative stress markers in patients with CHC undergoing combined treatment. Design & Methods: In total, 143 patients were recruited at the referral service of the municipality of Uruguaiana, and whole blood samples were collected. Biochemical, inflammatory, and oxidative stress parameters were determined by classical methodologies. Results: We found an increase in the hepatic function markers and a decrease in the levels of albumin and adiponectin at the time of HCV diagnosis compared with those in the control group. An improvement in the levels of these biochemical markers was observed during the combined treatment. In addition, we found an increase in the acute phase proteins and inflammatory cytokines in the HCV group compared to the control group; however, there was a statistically significant reduction in the levels of these proteins during therapy. Moreover, antioxidant defenses decreased in the HCV group, and combined antiviral therapy sometimes reversed these parameters. Oxidative parameters were already high at baseline in HCV group; however, combined treatment improved these markers. Conclusion: We can conclude that at the end of combined therapy, there was an improvement of the inflammatory process of the liver as well as oxidative stress parameters.
Keywords: Hepatitis C; inflammatory cytokines; biochemical markers; oxidative stress; combination therapy.
[Full Text Article]
[Download Certificate]
Impact Factor : 8.181 
