Effect of oxymatrine on serum matrix metalloproteinase-2 and its inhibitor in patients with chronic hepatitis B and liver cirrhosis / 中国中西医结合杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of oxymatrine on the level of serum matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and its inhibitor (TIMP-2) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and post-hepatitis B liver cirrhosis (LC), as well as on liver fibrosis indexes as hyaluronic acid (HA), laminin (LN) and IV type collagen (IV C).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Changes of all the above-mentioned indexes in patients with CHB (n = 36) and LC (n = 36) before and after treatment were determined, and the relationship of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 with liver fibrosis indexes were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Oxymatrine could decrease the levels of MMP-2, HA, LN and IV C in patients with severe or moderate CHB and LC of Child-pugh A, B and C grade, as compared with the data before treatment (P < 0.05). Serum level of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 was well correlated with the levels of liver cirrhosis indexes.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>MMP-2 and TIMP-2 can be used as a reference for evaluating the degree of LC, and oxymatrine has a certain anti-LC effect.</p>