Akiyoshi F, Sata M, Uchimura Y, Suzuki H, Tanikawa K
The Second Department of Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan.
Am J Gastroenterol. 1997 Sep;92(9):1463-6.
Interferon (IFN) therapy is ineffective in about 20-30% of chronic hepatitis C (CH-C) patients who have low HCV RNA levels. Besides the serum HCV RNA level or HCV genotype, hepatic iron concentrations are thought to be correlated with the subsequent response to IFN therapy. Our objective in the present study was to evaluate serum iron, ferritin, and hepatic iron staining in patients with low HCV RNA levels, as predictive markers for IFN therapy.
We evaluated 75 CH-C patients whose serum HCV RNA levels were below 1 million genome equivalent (mEq)/ml as shown by a bDNA assay.
There were no significant differences in age, sex, serum aminotransferase levels, or serum iron concentrations between responders and nonresponders. The total iron scores (TIS) were significantly higher in responders (p < 0.01). The TIS was an independent factor relating to the response to IFN therapy by multivariate analysis (p = 0.0062). The TIS significantly correlated with serum ferritin levels (r = 0.637, p < 0.001), but not with any other parameter. bi]
Among CH-C patients within the limits of low HCV RNA levels, TIS of the liver may be used as a predictive marker for IFN therapy.
干扰素（IFN）治疗对约20%-30%丙肝病毒（HCV）RNA水平较低的慢性丙型肝炎（CH-C）患者无效。除血清HCV RNA水平或HCV基因型外，肝铁浓度被认为与随后对IFN治疗的反应相关。本研究的目的是评估HCV RNA水平较低患者的血清铁、铁蛋白和肝铁染色，作为IFN治疗的预测标志物。
我们评估了75例CH-C患者，其血清HCV RNA水平经分支DNA分析显示低于100万基因组当量（mEq）/ml。
应答者和无应答者在年龄、性别、血清转氨酶水平或血清铁浓度方面无显著差异。应答者的总铁评分（TIS）显著更高（p<0.01）。通过多变量分析，TIS是与IFN治疗反应相关的独立因素（p=0.0062）。TIS与血清铁蛋白水平显著相关（r=0.637，p<0.001），但与任何其他参数均无相关性。
在HCV RNA水平较低的CH-C患者中，肝脏TIS可作为IFN治疗的预测标志物。
