Lau JY, Davis GL, Kinffen J, et al. of ApoB synthesis, and progressive hepatic fibrosis. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 26:342\348, 2012. ? 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. values less than 0.05 were considered to indicate a significant difference between groups. RESULTS Characteristics of the Enrolled Patients with CH\C Among the enrolled patients with CH\C, 29 cases were male, and 16 cases were female. HCV genotypes of the enrolled patients were 1b in 29 (62%) patients, 2a in 11 (26%) patients, and 2b in five (12%) patients. The patient ages at enrollment ranged from 23 to 76 years old. Mean BMI was 23.6 3.4 kg/m2 (range, 17.1C33.5 kg/m2). No fibrosis (F0) was in two patients, while F1 in 18 patients, F2 in PU-H71 eight patients, and F3 in 17 patients, respectively. The severity of necroinflammation was evaluated as follows: A1 in 12 patients, A2 in 24 patients, and A3 in nine patients. On the other hand, 28 (62%) patients had no hepatic steatosis (grade 0), ten (22%) patients had grade 1 steatosis, and seven (16%) patients had grade 2 steatosis: none had grade 3 steatosis. Prevalence of Anti\CL in Patients with CH and Patients with Comparison Groups Figure ?Figure22 shows the distribution and prevalence of anti\CL in each group. Six (13%) of 45 patients with CH\C had anti\CL, while two of ten (20%) patients with NASH, no patients with CH\B, no patients with alcoholic liver diseases, and no NHC did. However, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of anti\CL between patients with CH\C and NHC. Open in a separate window Figure 2 Distribution of anti\CL titers in CH\C patients and comparison patients/control groups. Anti\2\GPI was also measured in five patients with CH\C seropositive Rabbit Polyclonal to ATP5S for anti\CL. Among these five CH\C patients seropositive for anti\CL, four CH\C patients, whose titers of the antibodies did not exceed 20 U/ml, were seronegative for anti\2\GPI. Only the rest CH\C patient seropositive for anti\CL had a high titer of anti\2\GPI (anti\CL: 35 U/ml, anti\2\GPI :18.1 U/ml). Association of Anti\CL with Demographic Factors Table ?Table11 summarizes demographic factors in the enrolled patients with CH\C. As shown in the table, CH\C patients with anti\CL were male\predominant, although the difference was not significant (= 0.3846). The incidence of concomitant hyperlipidemia in CH\C patients seropositive for anti\CL was PU-H71 significantly higher than that in those patients PU-H71 seronegative for anti\CL (50% vs. 10%, = 0.0394). However, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of concomitant type 2 DM or hypertension between the groups. Table 1 Comparisons of Demographic Factors Between CH\C Groups Seropositive and Seronegative for Anti\CL = 6)= 39)= 0.0048, ApoB: 79 19 vs. 53 17 mg/dl, = 0.0145). Table 2 Comparisons of Laboratory and Histological Data Between CH\C Groups Seropositive and Seronegative for Anti\CL = 6)= 39)= 0.0463). The finding described above suggests that the emergence of anti\CL was closely associated with oxidative stress in CH\C patients. On the other hand, serum ferritin levels in CH\C patients with anti\CL were almost the same as those in CH\C patients without anti\CL. There was no significant difference in the values of HOMA\IR between CH\C patients seropositive and seronegative for anti\CL. Moreover, the emergence of anti\CL was independent of HCV genotypes and loads of HCV\RNA. With regard to immunological aspects, no significant differences in the levels of serum IgG and the prevalence of ANA were observed between.