CHRONIC HEPATITIS C: HEPATIC IRON CONTENT DOES NOT CORRELATE WITH RESPONSE TO ANTIVIRAL THERAPY

• Published in: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo Vol. 51; no. 6; pp. 331 - 336
• Main Authors: FUCUTA PEREIRA, Patricia Da Silva, DE SOUZA E SILVA, Ivonete Sandra, DE OLIVEIRA UEHARA, Silvia Naomi, TAKEMI EMORI, Christini, PEREIRA LANZONI, Valéria, BENEDITO SILVA, Antonio Eduardo, GOMES FERRAZ, Maria Lucia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: São Paulo Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo 01.12.2009; Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo; Instituto de Medicina Tropical
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents; Antiviral agents; Antiviral Agents - administration & dosage; Biological and medical sciences; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; General aspects; Hepatitis C, Chronic - drug therapy; Hepatitis C, Chronic - metabolism; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Interferons - administration & dosage; Iron - analysis; Liver - chemistry; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Retrospective Studies; Ribavirin - administration & dosage; Spectrophotometry, Atomic; TROPICAL MEDICINE; Viral diseases; Viral hepatitis; Liver biopsy; Liver; Hepatic disease; Iron; Ribavirin; Peginterferon; Infection; Virus; Treatment; Biopsy; Viral disease; Digestive diseases; Antiviral; Tropical medicine; Interferon; Flaviviridae; Hepatitis C virus; Hepacivirus; Viral hepatitis C
• ISSN: 0036-4665; 1678-9946; 1678-9946; 0036-4665
• DOI: 10.1590/S0036-46652009000600004

The complex interaction between hepatitis C virus infection, iron homeostasis and the response to antiviral treatment remains controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of hepatic iron concentration (HIC) on the sustained virological response (SVR) to antiviral therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C. A total of 50 patients who underwent pretreatment liver biopsy with assessment of HIC by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy and were subsequently submitted to antiviral treatment with interferon/peginterferon and ribavirin were included in the study. Patients with alcoholism, history of multiple blood transfusion, chronic kidney disease, hemolytic anemia and parenteral iron therapy were excluded. The iron related markers and HIC were compared between those who achieved an SVR and non-responders (NR) patients. The mean age was 45.7 years and the proportion of patients' gender was not different between SVR and NR patients. The median serum iron was 138 and 134 microg/dL (p = 0.9), the median serum ferritin was 152.5 and 179.5 ng/mL (p = 0.87) and the median HIC was 9.9 and 8.2 micromol/g dry tissue (p = 0.51), for SVR and NR patients, respectively. Thus, hepatic iron concentration, determined by a reliable quantitative method, was not a negative predictive factor of SVR in patients with chronic hepatitis C presenting mild to moderate hepatic iron accumulation.