Association between angiogenesis soluble factors and disease progression markers in chronic hepatitis C patients

Abstract

Objectives: our objectives were to compare angiogenesis sol- uble factor (ASF) levels in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients and healthy individuals, and to investigate potential associations be- tween ASF levels and both histological and biochemical markers of disease progression. Method: thirty-six patients (69% males) positive for HCV- RNA by PCR analysis were included in the study. All patients un- derwent liver biopsy before treatment. Serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), soluble Flt-1 and Flk-1 recep- tors, placental growth factor (PlGF), angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) and soluble Tie-2 receptor were determined by ELISA. Fifteen healthy subjects were used as controls. Results: in comparison to healthy individuals, CHC patients showed significantly increased serum levels of proangiogenic fac- tors PlGF (22 ± 5 vs. 18 ± 8 pg/ml; p < 0.05), Ang-2 (1265 ± 385 vs. 833 ± 346 pg/ml; p < 0.005) and sFlt-1 (95 ± 22 vs. 72 ± 14 pg/ml; p < 0.0001). Interestingly, in CHC patients serum levels of VEGF and Tie-2 correlated with grade of inflammation, PlGF correlated with stage of fibrosis, and Flt-1 and Flk-1 correlat- ed with serum transaminase levels (p < 0.05 in all cases). Conclusions: CHC patients showed increased serum levels of ASF, and a significant correlation was shown between serum lev- els of selected ASFs and grade of inflammation, stage of fibrosis, and transaminase levels. Key words: Angiogenic. Soluble factors. Chronic hepatitis C. HCV-RNA. Fibrosis. Inflammation. Salcedo