Pretreatment serum interleukin-12 levels in predicting sustained virological response among hepatitis C patients following Pegylated Interferon-α2β plus Ribavirin treatment (EN)

Karagiannakis, Demetris

Anagnostopoulos, George

Tsagkaris, Manolis

Panagiotakos, Dimosthenis

Tsirogiannis, Alexandra

Papasteriades, Chryssa

Perperas, Antony

Papadopoulos, Savvas

Manolakopoulos, Spilios

Background Dendritic cells activated by hepatitis C virus (HCV) produce high amounts of interleukin (IL)-12, considered to be associated with HCV clearance. The aim of this study was to investigate the IL-12 levels in HCV-infected patients, before and after the application of combination therapy with Pegylated Interferon-α2β plus Ribavirin.Methods Laboratory data of IL-12 levels and other clinical characteristics were selected from 26 HCV-infected patients. Comparisons of IL-12 serum levels before and after treatment or between responders and non-responders (including relapsers) were performed using nonparametric tests. The study moreover investigated the probable relationship of IL-12 concentrations with viral load, HCV genotypes, liver function tests (LFTs), histological activity and the response to combination treatment.Results The baseline IL-12 levels were found significantly higher in patients who achieved sustained virological response (SVR), compared to patients who did not respond to the combination treatment (P=0.029). The IL-12 levels at the end of treatment were not statistically different from the IL-12 baseline levels, in both responders and non-responders. Baseline serum levels of IL-12 higher than 3 pg/mL (cut-off) were found to positively predict patients who successfully responded to treatment. No statistical correlation was found between the baseline serum IL-12 levels and viral load, HCV genotypes, histological activity or LFTs among the HCV patients.Conclusion Pretreatment IL-12 levels seem to predict which patients will achieve SVR to treatment. Patients with increased IL-12 serum levels were more likely to achieve SVR.Keywords Cytokine, dendritic cells, hepatitis C, interleukin-12, Pegylated interferon α2β, T-helper cells (EN)

info:eu-repo/semantics/article

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Ελληνική Γαστροεντερολογική Εταιρία

Annals of Gastroenterology

Αγγλική γλώσσα

2013-06-12

http://www.annalsgastro.gr/index.php/annalsgastro/article/view/1324

Hellenic Society of Gastroenterology (EN)

1792-7463

1108-7471

Annals of Gastroenterology; Volume 26, No 3 (2013); 249 (EN)