title: Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in patients with acute brucellosis.
abstract: In this prospective study, we investigated the serum levels of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and C-reactive protein (CRP) before and after the treatment of patients with acute brucellosis. The study comprised 58 patients with acute brucellosis and 30 healthy volunteers. Pre-treatment serum HGF levels of 58 patients with acute brucellosis (1548.6 +/- 220.1) were significantly higher than levels of the control group (401.4 +/- 69.7) (p < 0.001). Serum levels of HGF and CRP significantly decreased at the end of the treatment period (p < 0.001). Post treatment, levels did not differ from those of the control group (p > 0.05). Serum HGF levels of patients with acute brucellosis correlated to CRP and ALT levels (r: 0.922, 0.752; p < 0.001, respectively). Our findings suggest that serum HGF levels may be used as a supplementary marker to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment in patients with acute brucellosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Firat, TR-23119, Elazig, Turkey. ozdenm44@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozden
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalkan
authors.forename: Kutbettin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Demirdag
authors.forename: S Sirri
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kilic
authors.forename: Affan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Denk
authors.forename: Pinar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yuce
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D015415:Biomarkers; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor; D002097:C-Reactive Protein