title: Iron overload in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection: clinical and histological study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recently it has been found that iron is an important element in the natural history of hepatitis C. Serum markers of iron stores are frequently increased in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected carriers but the real impact of the hepatic iron overload is poorly understood. The purpose of the present paper was to determine the prevalence of iron overload and to study the relationship between hepatic iron concentration (HIC) and clinical, biochemical and histological characteristics in chronic HCV-infected carriers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients presenting with anti-HCV and HCV-RNA were included. Hepatic iron concentration was determined in liver tissue by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The association between HIC and age, gender, risk factor of transmission, duration of infection, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, iron and serum ferritin, transferrin saturation, HCV-RNA level, grading of inflammatory activity, staging of fibrosis, hepatic steatosis, and stainable iron was analyzed. Statistical analysis included the Mann-Whitney test and a multiple linear regression model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety-six patients (58% male) with a mean age of 44 +/- 10 years were studied. Serum iron, ferritin and transferrin saturation were elevated in 28%, 27% and 12.5% of patients, respectively. Stainable iron was detected in few patients (15.6%). Higher grades of stainable iron (2 and 3) were observed in only 7%. The HIC (>30 mmol/g dry weight) was elevated in five patients (5%). Neither grading nor staging were related to HIC. Higher HIC were observed in male patients (P < 0.001), in patients with elevated serum ferritin (P = 0.001) and in patients with stainable iron (grades 2 and 3; P = 0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that only stainable iron was independently correlated with HIC (P = 0.003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Iron overload in chronically HCV-infected patients was uncommon and hepatic iron content seemed not to be related to the liver damage process. In the eventuality of iron overload, histochemical liver iron is a useful marker to estimate HIC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Federal University of Sao Paulo, Rua Botucatu 740, 2nd floor, CEP 04023-900 São Paulo-SP, Brazil. nett@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Ivonete S S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Renata M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Perez
authors.forename: Pedro V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Maria Inês
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Cantagalo
authors.forename: Elizabete
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dantas
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sisti
authors.forename: Cláudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Figueiredo-Mendes
authors.forename: Valeria P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Lanzoni
authors.forename: Antonio  E  B
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Maria Lucia G
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Ferraz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D019190:Iron Overload / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D005293:Ferritins; D007501:Iron