Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kinki University School of Medicine, 377-2, Ohno-Higashi, Osaka-sayama, Osaka 589-8511, Japan.
Hepatol Res. 2006 Dec;36(4):288-93. doi: 10.1016/j.hepres.2006.08.006. Epub 2006 Sep 18.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Elevated serum ferritin and hepatic iron concentrations are frequently observed in chronic hepatitis C (CHC), which may be related to hepcidin. Because the role of hepcidin in CHC patients remains unknown, we aimed in this study to generate some information about hepcidin in CHC.
To determine whether serum hepcidin correlates with markers of iron status in patients with viral hepatitis, we measured serum prohepcidin levels in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and in healthy controls.
Serum prohepcidin and ferritin levels were negatively correlated (r=-0.182, P=0.037) in HCV patients and positively correlated in HBV patients and in healthy controls. The total iron scores in liver specimens from HCV patients were also negatively correlated (r=-0.403, P=0.013). Serum prohepcidin levels in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) were significantly lower than in patients with chronic hepatitis (CH). In both CH and LC patients, serum prohepcidin levels were significantly lower in HCV patients than in HBV patients.
Failure of homeostatic regulation of serum prohepcidin concentrations may be induced by HCV infection, resulting in elevation of serum ferritin levels, which leads to the progression of liver injury by iron overload in CHC patients.
背景/目的：慢性丙型肝炎（CHC）患者常伴有血清铁蛋白和肝铁浓度升高，这可能与铁调素有关。由于铁调素在 CHC 患者中的作用尚不清楚，我们旨在本研究中提供一些有关 CHC 中铁调素的信息。
为了确定血清铁调素是否与病毒性肝炎患者的铁状态标志物相关，我们测量了丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）和乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）感染患者以及健康对照者的血清前铁调素水平。
HCV 患者的血清前铁调素和铁蛋白水平呈负相关（r=-0.182，P=0.037），HBV 患者和健康对照者则呈正相关。HCV 患者肝组织的总铁评分也呈负相关（r=-0.403，P=0.013）。肝硬化（LC）患者的血清前铁调素水平明显低于慢性肝炎（CH）患者。在 CH 和 LC 患者中，HCV 患者的血清前铁调素水平均明显低于 HBV 患者。
HCV 感染可能导致血清前铁调素浓度的稳态调节失败，导致血清铁蛋白水平升高，从而导致 CHC 患者铁过载引起的肝损伤进展。
