Serum complement C4a and its relation to liver fibrosis in children with chronic hepatitis C

作     者：Behairy E Behairy Ghada M El-Mashad Ragab S Abd-Elghany Enas M Ghoneim Mostafa M Sira 

作者机构：Department of Pediatric Hepatology National Liver Institute Menofiya University Department of Pediatrics Faculty of Medicine Menofiya University Department of Microbiology National Liver Institute Menofiya University 

出 版 物：《World Journal of Hepatology》 (世界肝病学杂志（英文版）（电子版）)

年 卷 期：2013年第5卷第8期

页      面：445-451页

学科分类：1002[医学-临床医学] 100202[医学-儿科学] 10[医学] 

基　　金：Supported by National Liver Institute Menofiya University Egypt 

主　　题：Children Hepatitis C virus Complement C4a Liver biopsy Liver fibrosis 

摘      要：AIM:To evaluate serum complement C4a and its relation to liver fibrosis in children with chronic hepatitis C virus(HCV)***:The study included 30 children with chronic HCV infection before receiving antiviral *** HCV infection was defined by positive anti-HCV,a positive polymerase chain reaction for HCV-RNA for more than 6 mo with absence of any associated liver disease.A second group of 30 age-and sex-matched healthy children served as *** C4a levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent *** fibrosis stage and inflammatory grade were assessed using Ishak scoring *** C4a levels were compared according to different clinical,laboratory and histopathological *** significance for quantitative data was tested by MannWhitney U non-parametric *** qualitative data,significance between groups was tested by *** was tested by Spearman’s *** were considered significant if P value≤***:The age of the patients ranged from 3.5to 18 years and that of controls ranged from 4 to 17years.C4a mean levels were merely lower in patients(153.67±18.69 mg/L)than that in the controls(157.25±11.40 mg/L)with no statistical significance(P=0.378).It did not differ significantly in patients with elevated vs those with normal transaminases(152.25±16.62 vs 155.36±21.33;P=0.868)or with different HCV viremia(P=0.561).Furthermore,there was no statistical significant difference in serum levels between those with no/mild fibrosis and those with moderate fibrosis(154.65±20.59 vs 152.97±17.72;P=0.786)or minimal and mild activity(155.1±21.93 vs 152.99±17.43;P=0.809).Though statistically not significant,C4a was highest in fibrosis score 0(F0),decreasing in F1 and F2 to be the lowest in *** comparing significant fibrosis(Ishak score≥3)vs other stages,C4a was significantly lower in F3 compared to other fibrosis scores(143.55±2.33 mg/L vs 155.26±19.64 mg/L;P=0.047)and at a cutoff value of less