Body mass index (BMI) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level correlate with the severity of HCV-induced fibrosis in a cohort
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(2020) 6:71
RESEARCH
Future Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Open Access
Body mass index (BMI) and alphafetoprotein (AFP) level correlate with the severity of HCV-induced fibrosis in a cohort of Egyptian patients with chronic HCV Amal Ahmed Mohamed1†, Amr Ali Hemeda2†, Ramy Karam Aziz3, Mohamed Salaheldin Abdel-Hakeem3* and Marwa Ali-Tammam2*
Abstract Background: Viral hepatitis is the seventh leading cause of mortality globally, and half of this mortality is attributed to hepatitis C virus (HCV). Egypt has the highest HCV prevalence worldwide, with an estimated 14.7% of the population being HCV-positive. HCV infection is the primary cause of liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Liver fibrosis varies in severity during chronic HCV infection, and 10–20% of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients with severe fibrosis develop cirrhosis. The goal of this work was to assess the clinico-demographic predictors of severity of HCV-induced fibrosis in a cohort of Egyptian patients. Results: A cohort of Egyptian patients with chronic HCV genotype 4a infection showed significant association between severe fibrosis stages and obesity, represented by a higher body mass index (BMI), low albumin level, high alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level, low thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level, and high alkaline phosphatase (ALP) level. Multivariate analysis delineated BMI, TSH, and ALP as independent significant variables that could predict the risk of fibrosis severity in HCV infections. Conclusion: This study argues in favor of using the biomarker profile of CHC patients infected with HCV genotype 4a to identify patients at higher risk of developing severe fibrosis, which is a necessary first step towards precision medicine via patient stratification. Keywords: Liver, Hepatitis, Virology, Genetics, Multivariate
* Correspondence: [email protected]; [email protected] AAH is the co-first author for this work. 3 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt 2 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmaceutical Industries, Future University in Egypt, Cairo, Egypt Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To
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