Levels of Interleukin-6 andTransforming Growth Factor Beta in HCV Patients Sera
Levels of Interleukin-6 andTransforming Growth Factor Beta in HCV Patients Sera
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with significant morbidity and mortality
 owing to progression of a high percentage (85%) of HCV infected patients to chronic
 hepatitis, which might lead to the development of liver cirrhosis or hepato cellular
 carcinoma..

 Egypt has possibly the highest HCV prevalence in the world, 10-20% of the general population
 .
Currently, second-generation direct-acting antiviral agents have been used for chronic
 hepatitis C treatment. The association of sofosbuvir with daclatasvir or simeprevir , with or
 without ribavirin , directly inhibits viral replication .

 Sofosbuvir (400 mg once per day) and daclatasvir (60mg once per day) or simeprevir (150 mg
 once per day) for 3 months treatment regimens.

 Sofosbuvir-based antiviral therapy guarantees efficacy in HCV eradication in approximately
 90% of cases and is associated with mild to moderate adverse effects.

 Overall, studies describe an increase in serum cytokine levels in chronic hepatitis C
 patients, when compared with healthy individuals. ,interleukin-6(IL-6) is produced mainly by
 kupffer cells and induces the production of the acute phase proteins, C-reactive protein and
 haptoglobin .

 Previous studies reported that serum Interleukin-6 levels were increased, compared with
 healthy individuals, in patients with some liver diseases.Previous results suggest that
 baseline levels of Interleukin, as well as their decrease during treatment .Transforming
 growth factor beta (TGF-β) is a cytokine that has been assigned a key role in epithelial
 repair. Injury to the liver elicits a rapid increase in its expression. HCV -infected
 hepatocytes produce (TGF-β) which may stimulate T-regulatory cells.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Age from 18 to 70 years.

 -  HCV RNA positivity .

 -  Any Body Mass Index(BMI).

 -  Treatment-naive or treatment experienced.

 -  all fibrosis stages.

 Exclusion criteria:

 -  Direct serum bilirubin greater than 2 mg/dl.

 -  Serum albumin less than 2.8 g/dl.

 -  International normalization ratio (INR) greater than or equal to 1.7

 -  Platelet count less than 50 000/mm3.

 -  Ascites or history of ascites.

 -  Hepatic encephalopathy or history of hepatic encephalopathy.

 -  Hepatocellular carcinoma.

 -  Serum creatinine greater than 2.5 mg/dl .

 -  Pregnancy.