RESUMO
AIM: To evaluate serum complement C4a and its relation to liver fibrosis in children with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. METHODS: The study included 30 children with chronic HCV infection before receiving antiviral therapy. Chronic HCV infection was defined by positive anti-HCV, a positive polymerase chain reaction for HCV-RNA for more than 6 mo with absence of any associated liver disease. A second group of 30 age- and sex-matched healthy children served as controls. Serum C4a levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Liver fibrosis stage and inflammatory grade were assessed using Ishak scoring system. Serum C4a levels were compared according to different clinical, laboratory and histopathological parameters. Statistical significance for quantitative data was tested by Mann-Whitney U non-parametric tests. For qualitative data, significance between groups was tested by χ(2) test. Correlation was tested by Spearman's test. Results were considered significant if P value ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: The age of the patients ranged from 3.5 to 18 years and that of controls ranged from 4 to 17 years. C4a mean levels were merely lower in patients (153.67 ± 18.69 mg/L) than that in the controls (157.25 ± 11.40 mg/L) with no statistical significance (P = 0.378). It did not differ significantly in patients with elevated vs those with normal transaminases (152.25 ± 16.62 vs 155.36 ± 21.33; P = 0.868) or with different HCV viremia (P = 0.561). Furthermore, there was no statistical significant difference in serum levels between those with no/mild fibrosis and those with moderate fibrosis (154.65 ± 20.59 vs 152.97 ± 17.72; P = 0.786) or minimal and mild activity (155.1 ± 21.93 vs 152.99 ± 17.43; P = 0.809). Though statistically not significant, C4a was highest in fibrosis score 0 (F0), decreasing in F1 and F2 to be the lowest in F3. When comparing significant fibrosis (Ishak score ≥ 3) vs other stages, C4a was significantly lower in F3 compared to other fibrosis scores (143.55 ± 2.33 mg/L vs 155.26 ± 19.64 mg/L; P = 0.047) and at a cutoff value of less than 144.01 mg/L, C4a could discriminate F3 with 76.9% sensitivity and 75% specificity from other stages of fibrosis. CONCLUSION: Serum complement C4a did not correlate with any of transaminases, HCV viremia or with the histopathological scores. Although C4a decreased with higher stages of fibrosis, this change was not significant enough to predict individual stages of fibrosis. Yet, it could predict significant fibrosis with acceptable clinical performance.
RESUMO
AIM: The diagnosis of biliary atresia (BA) is challenging as no single preoperative test is 100% accurate, especially for distinguishing it from other causes of neonatal cholestasis (NC). Intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM) elevation was reported in BA as a part of the immune-mediated inflammatory process. The use of ICAM-1 as a discriminative tool between BA and other causes of NC has never been addressed before. This study was to evaluate the diagnostic potentials of ICAM-1 in BA versus other forms of NC. METHODS: For this purpose, serum ICAM-1 (sICAM-1) and ICAM-1 expression, in liver biopsy using immunohistochemistry, were estimated in 30 patients with BA and compared to that in 20 patients with other forms of NC. sICAM-1 levels were compared to that in 20 healthy controls. RESULTS: sICAM-1 levels were significantly higher in BA (1055.9 ± 230.2 ng/mL) than that in cholestasis (604.8 ± 194.8 ng/mL) and the control groups (158.9 ± 78.7 ng/mL) (P < 0.0001). A cut-off value of 793.8 ng/mL had 86.7% sensitivity and 95% specificity in discriminating the BA from the cholestasis group. The biliary expression score of ICAM-1 at a cut-off value of 110 could discriminate between BA and other causes of NC with 100% sensitivity and specificity. Neither serum levels nor liver expression of ICAM-1 scores correlated with disease severity or with fibrosis stage. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that ICAM-1 has a diagnostic value in patients with BA and would be a promising helpful tool when investigating patients with NC.
