Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Biochemistry

This study aimed to investigate the influence of hepatitis C virus (HCV)/ Schistosoma mansoni (S. mansoni) co-infection on the concentration of hepatitis C viral nonstructural protein-4 (NS4) in addition to collagen III and matrixmetalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) in different hepatic fibrosis stages. We found that co-infected patients (n=186) showed significantly (P <0.05, Mann{u2013} Whitney U-test) higher concentrations of HCV-NS4, collagen III and collagen III/MMP-1 ratio (CMR) than those with HCV mono-infection (n=104) in different fibrosis-stages. Conversely, co-infected patients showed significantly lower concentrations of MMP-1 when compared to HCV mono-infection. The elevated levels of CMR in case of HCV mono-infection yielded an estimated odds ratio of 1.8 and 2.6 for developing significant fibrosis (F2-F4) and cirrhosis (F4), respectively. Surprisingly, HCV/S. mansoni co-infection increased the risk for developing F2-F4 and F4 several folds yielding an estimated odds ratio of 11.1 and 5.2, respectively. Thus, elevated levels of HCV-NS4 and CMR in HCV/S. mansoni co infection suggest increased susceptibility of co-infected patients, compared to those with HCV mono-infection, for accelerating hepatic fibrosis progression

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