Abstract

BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON GALECTIN-3 AS FIBROTIC MARKER IN HEPATITIS C PATIENTS

Faten Zahran Mohamed, Ibrahim El-Sayed M. El-Deen and *Dina Mohamed Mohamed Ismail

ABSTRACT

Although it is the gold standard for assessing hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related fibrosis, Liver biopsy is invasive and prone to complications. This study was designed to study non-invasive methods for the assessment of liver fibrosis where hepatitis C virus (HCV) is common in Egypt. Our aim was to validate and compare the performance of GAL-3 as simple blood marker for different stages of liver fibrosis in HCV patients in addition to GSH and NO. The study was carried out on 90 individuals divided into the following groups: group 1: normal control, group 2: F1 = portal fibrosis without septa, group 3: F2 = few septa, group 4: F3 = numerous septa without cirrhosis and group 5: F4= cirrhosis. Our results showed a positive correlation between GAL-3 level and degree of liver fibrosis. We can concluded that, using of GAL-3 a simple and non-invasive biochemical markers for the assessment of different stages of hepatic fibrosis as alternative to liver biopsy.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus (HCV), GSH and NO.