title: [Investigation of the relationship between serum nitric oxide levels, HBV-DNA and ALT levels in chronic hepatitis B patients].
abstract: It has been reported that increased nitric oxide (NO) production by the hepatocytes during chronic inflammatory processes, plays an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between serum levels of NOx (nitrite + nitrate) with the viral load and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. A total of 93 CHB patients (67 male, 26 female; mean age: 47.3 +/- 10.9 years) and 53 healthy control subjects (17 male, 36 female; mean age: 58.6 +/- 2.1 years) followed-up during 2006-2007 period were included to the study. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) serologic markers, viral load and ALT levels were studied by chemiluminescence method (Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, USA), by real-time polimerase chain reaction (PCR) (ABI PRISM 7700, Applied Biosystem, CA), and by Aeroset System (Abbott Laboratories, USA), respectively. NOx levels were determined by a method which was based on the reduction of nitrate to nitrite by cadmium. Mean levels of ALT and HBV-DNA of the patients were found as 98.7 +/- 138.4 IU/I and 1.6 x 10(9) +/- 4.0 x 10(9) copies/ml, respectively. In the evaluation of mean levels of NOx in patient and control groups, the difference was found statistically significant (30.6 +/- 21.7 micromol/l and 23.7 +/- 5.2 micromol/l, respectively; p< 0.05). In view of the relationship between the parameters, a positive correlation was detected between viral load and ALT levels (r= 0.768; p< 0.001), besides the significant correlations between NOx and viral load, and NOx and ALT (r= 0.346, p= 0.001 and r= 0.314, p= 0.002, respectively). As a result, although the NOx levels in chronic hepatitis patients were found higher than those in the control group, and significant correlations were detected between NO, viral load and ALT, the exact role of NO in the disease pathogenesis and outcome needs to be studied further at cellular level.
authors.affiliation: Atatürk Eğitim ve Araştirma Hastanesi, Mikrobiyoloji ve Klinik Mikrobiyoloji Laboratuvari, Izmir. agsener@gmail.com
authors.forename: Asli Gamze
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Sener
authors.forename: Sevin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kirdar
authors.forename: Mukadder
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Serter
authors.forename: Ilhan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Afşar
authors.forename: Ece Mine
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.forename: Cengiz
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ceylan
authors.forename: Neriman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aydin