title: Chronic hepatitis C: hepatic iron content does not correlate with response to antiviral therapy.
abstract: The complex interaction between hepatitis C virus infection, iron homeostasis and the response to antiviral treatment remains controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of hepatic iron concentration (HIC) on the sustained virological response (SVR) to antiviral therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C. A total of 50 patients who underwent pretreatment liver biopsy with assessment of HIC by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy and were subsequently submitted to antiviral treatment with interferon/peginterferon and ribavirin were included in the study. Patients with alcoholism, history of multiple blood transfusion, chronic kidney disease, hemolytic anemia and parenteral iron therapy were excluded. The iron related markers and HIC were compared between those who achieved an SVR and non-responders (NR) patients. The mean age was 45.7 years and the proportion of patients' gender was not different between SVR and NR patients. The median serum iron was 138 and 134 microg/dL (p = 0.9), the median serum ferritin was 152.5 and 179.5 ng/mL (p = 0.87) and the median HIC was 9.9 and 8.2 micromol/g dry tissue (p = 0.51), for SVR and NR patients, respectively. Thus, hepatic iron concentration, determined by a reliable quantitative method, was not a negative predictive factor of SVR in patients with chronic hepatitis C presenting mild to moderate hepatic iron accumulation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatitis Section, Federal University of Sao Paulo, SP, Sao Paulo, Brazil. patriciafucuta@gmail.com
authors.forename: Patricia da Silva Fucuta
authors.initials: Pda S
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Ivonete Sandra de Souza e
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Silvia Naomi de Oliveira
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Uehara
authors.forename: Christini Takemi
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Emori
authors.forename: Valéria Pereira
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Lanzoni
authors.forename: Antonio Eduardo Benedito
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Maria Lucia Gomes
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Ferraz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007501:Iron / Q000032:analysis*; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D012254:Ribavirin; D007372:Interferons; D007501:Iron