Plasma fibronectin in patients with hepatic schistosomiasis mansoni

The present study was designed to determine the concentration of plasma fibronectin in patients with hepatic Schistosomiasis mansoni in different stages and to examine the relation of the fibronectin level to the pathogenesis of schistosomal liver fibrosis. The study included 20 male patients and 10 matched controls. Ten patients were in the hepatomegalic stage [group I] and 10 were in the late stage of hepatic fibrosis with splenomegaly [group II]. Results showed that the mean fibronectin concentration in group I [47.75 mg/dl] was significantly higher than that of controls [20.9 mg/dl] or group II [19.17 mg/dl]. This is most probably secondary to an increase in the secretion of fibronectin from the macrophages in the secretion of fibronectin from the macrophages in the schistosomal hepatic granulomas in the hepatomegalic stage. With the development of liver fibrosis, granulomas shrink and macrophages may disappear leading to low fibronectin plasma level in the late fibrotic stage. Plasma fibronectin shares in the formation of tissue matrix fibronectin. Modulation of the sequence of deposition of plasma fibronectin into tissue fibronectin may possibly delay the development of end stage liver fibrosis