Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty Of Medicine - Department Of Tropical Medicine

In this study , we aimed at detection of caspase 3 activity (one of apoptosis executioners) in patients'sera with chronic HCV and PNALT in comparison to patients with elevated ALTWe aimed also at assessment of histological activity in both groups and its correlation with caspase 3 activityResults : The majority of patients with PNALT showed evidence of inflammation in liver biopsies (70in hundred) with 233in hundred of the patients showing more severe inflammation (? A2) Whereas (90in hundred) of chronic HCV patients with elevated ALT showed higher grade of histological activity (? A2) The majority of patients (666in hundred) with PNALT showed evidence of fibrosis in liver biopsies with 266in hundred of patients showing more advanced fibrosis (? F2 METAVIR) Only 334in hundredof PNALT patients showed no evidence of fibrosis in liver biopsy specimens with only one patient out of them showed evidence of frank cirrhosis (F4) Whereas (80in hundred) of patients with elevated ALT showed significant fibrosis and (30in hundred) showed frank cirrhosisConclusion : caspase 3 activity was significantly correlated with serum ALT levels in both patients with PNALT and patients with elevated ALTNo statistically significant relation was found between serum caspase 3 activity and grade of histological activity or stage of fibrosis

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