By : Salem, M.L.1, Barakat, L.A.2, Elnakeeb,N.A2, and Zeidan, A.A.1

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a main cause of chronic hepatitis and it may leads to cirrhosis, hepatic failure and hepatocellular carcinoma. Chronic HCV patients are subjected to treatment with ribavirin and interferon-α (IFN-α) but,which have achieved only limited success. The main aim of this study was to measure indoleamine-2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO) in chronic HCV patients which could explain the failure from therapy. Five ml of peripheral blood were collected from 30 patients with chronic HCV infection and 10 healthy control volunteers. Patients were categorized in to responders and non-responders according to viral titre upon IFN-α treatment. The levels of IDO were measured in the sera of the recruited subjects. Significant increases (P˂0.001) in the concentration of IDO were observed in IFN-α non-responder patient when compared with responders and healthy control. Conclusion: Non-responsiveness of chronic HCV patients to IFNs based therapy associated with increases in suppressive mechanisms, opening a new avenue for targeting these molecules in HCV therapy.

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5. Some biochemical markers and expression of indoleamine-2, 3-dioxygenase in Egyptian patients with chronic Hepatitis C.
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