Serum IL-10 level and response to combined pegylated interferon and ribavirin therapy in Egyptian patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection

Introduction: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections is a major health problem. Egypt has the highest prevalence worldwide. Currently, combined pegylated interferon and ribavirin therapy is the standard treatment but the outcome is not satisfactory. It has been reported that patients with chronic HCV infection show enhanced serum IL-10 concentration and it was found to be correlated to the histopathological alterations of the liver. Objectives: To assess the possible association of serum IL-10 level and response to combined interferon α-2a and ribavirin therapy for chronic HCV infection. Patients and methods This study was conducted on 50 consecutive patients with chronic HCV infection and 20 healthy controls. All the patients were subjected to clinical and laboratory assessment, abdominal ultrasound, and liver biopsy. All the patients were treated with combined therapy and followed up for end of treatment and sustained virologic response (SVR). Determination of IL-10 serum level using ELISA test were done at the baseline and at the end of treatment. Results: Pre-treatment serum IL-10 was significantly positively correlated with BMI and grade of positivity of HCV RNA PCR. Pre-treatment serum IL-10 levels were significantly lower in responders at the end of treatment and SVR in comparison to non responders (P<0.001). There was significant reduction of serum IL-10 level after therapy in comparison to baseline in responders with no significant change in non responders. Conclusions: increased serum levels of IL-10 are a poor prognostic marker of response to combined treatment in patients with chronic HCV infection. (Amal A. Mohamed, Zainab A. Ali-Eldin, Wesam A. Ibrahim, Fatma A. Ali-Eldin, Ibrahem Siam, Khaled M. Abd Elaziz, Nehal A. Radwan. Serum IL-10 level and response to combined pegylated interferon and ribavirin therapy in Egyptian patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Academia Arena, 2011;3(10):1-6) (ISSN 1553-992X). http://www.sciencepub.net.