Thymidine phosphorylase expression in patients with chronic viral hepatitis.
BACKGROUND
The role of thymidine phosphorylase (TP), an angiogenic factor, in chronic viral hepatitis is unclear. In the present study we investigated TP expression in chronic viral hepatitis due to hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.


METHODS
Fifty-eight patients suffering from chronic viral hepatitis and 13 cirrhotic patients due to either HBV or HCV were studied. TP expression was investigated using a standard immunohistochemical technique and the specific antibody P-GF.44C.


RESULTS
The pattern of TP staining was predominantly nuclear, or mixed nuclear/cytoplasmic, but no significant difference in such expression was noted between chronic hepatitis B and C: nuclear immunostaining, t=0.0616, p=0.9511; cytoplasmic immunostaining, t=0.5188, p=0.6060. There was, however, a marked difference in TP expression between patients with chronic hepatitis B/C and cirrhosis. Notably, this finding applied to both nuclear (p=0.00754, p=0.0143, respectively) and cytoplasmic (p=0.000091, p=0.000031, respectively) expression.


CONCLUSIONS
These observations indicate that TP expression, although linked to liver cirrhosis, may not be virus-related.
Mimidis
Konstantinos
K
First Department of Internal Medicine, Chrisostomou Smirnis 8, 68100 Alexandroupolis, Greece. kmimidis@otenet.gr
Giatromanolaki
Alexandra
A
Sivridis
Efthimios
E
Papadopoulos
Vassilios
V
Ritis
Konstantinos
K
Kartalis
Georgios
G
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000472:pathogenicity; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000201:enzymology*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013939:Thymidine Phosphorylase / Q000096:biosynthesis*
D013939:Thymidine Phosphorylase