title: High prevalence of alpha 1 antitrypsin phenotypes in viral hepatitis B infected patients in Iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major global public health problem. Approximately 2 billion people are infected worldwide and more than 350 million of these individuals are chronic carriers of HBV. Approximately 15-40% of infected patients will develop cirrhosis, liver failure, or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Alpha 1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency is one of many factors that may be involved in abnormalities such as liver and lung disease, inflammatory joint diseases, and inflammatory eye diseases. In the present study, the role played by AAT in HBV infected individuals is analyzed.
  
  
  METHODS
  AAT phenotyping and trypsin inhibitory capacity (TIC) experiments were performed on 281 HBV infected patients who were referred to Tehran and Zahedan Hepatitis Center for a period of 3 years from June 2001 to September 2003. The same tests were performed on 257 individuals who did not suffer from any systemic diseases (control group). The case group was subdivided into three groups: carrier (36.7%), chronic (50.5%), and cirrhotic (12.8%).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that AAT phenotypes, MS, MZ, M(1)Z, and M(1)S, were significantly higher in the HBV group (p<0.01). In addition, there was a significant difference in AAT phenotypes (MS, MZ, and M(1)Z) among inactive carriers and individuals in the chronic and cirrhotic group (p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a high prevalence of moderate AAT (MS, M(1)S, and MV) and severely deficient (MZ and M(1)Z) phenotypes in Iranian HBV individuals. In addition, AAT deficiency might be a risk factor for infected HBV individuals progressing from the carrier stage to chronic and cirrhotic stages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashemi
authors.forename: Seyed Moayed
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Alavian
authors.forename: Saeid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghavami
authors.forename: Frederick J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: de Serres
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salehi
authors.forename: Taher
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Doroudi
authors.forename: Amir Hossain Mahagheghi
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Fard
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mehrabifar
authors.forename: Behzad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Milani
authors.forename: Seyed Javad Saeidi
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Shahri