title: Serum neopterin levels in patients with HBV infection at various stages.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Neopterin (NPT) level is elevated in a number of situations in which cellular immunity is active. In the present study, levels of serum NPT were measured in patients who were in different phases of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in order to determine if the NPT level can be considered a predictor for the stage of this infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 120 patients were included in the study, patients were divided equally in four groups; each group consisted of 30 patients. Group I were non-replicative HBV carriers, Group II were immune to HBV, Group III were chronically infected with HBV, and the Group IV were healthy controls. Five ml of blood was drawn from each patient and serum NPT levels were measured by the ELISA technique.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean NPT levels were found to be 14.80 +/-11.20 nmol/L, 19.73 +/- 18.40 nmol/L, 24.73+/-20.77 nmol/L, and 8.66 +/- 10.03 nmol/L in Group I, II, III and Group IV (the control group) respectively. The mean NPT levels were significantly higher in Group I, II and III than in the control group (Group IV) (p = 0.036, p = 0.010 and p = 0.001 respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum levels of NPT are elevated in all the patients in Group I, II and Group III as an indicator of cellular immunity which is activated in different levels. However, an increased level of NPT does not seem to be a sufficient indicator in determining the immunopathogenetic stages of this infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Afyon Kocatepe University School of Medicine, Afyon, Turkey. nesed60@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Nese
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Demirturk
authors.forename: Tuna
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Demirdal
authors.forename: Orhan Cem
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Aktepe
authors.forename: Nevil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aykin
authors.forename: Semiha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Orhan
authors.forename: Figen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cevik
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019798:Neopterin / Q000097:blood*; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D019798:Neopterin