title: Early increased ficolin-2 concentrations are associated with severity of liver inflammation and efficacy of anti-viral therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients.
abstract: Ficolin-2 is a kind of human serum complement lectin with a structure similar to mannan-binding lectin (MBL), and it has been implicated in innate immunity. Recent studies have shown that complement pathway activation may contribute to hepatitis. However, the relationship between ficolin-2 and viral hepatitis remains largely elusive. The aim of this study was to determine the dynamics of ficolin-2 in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Forty nine patients who had not yet received therapy [24 patients with abnormal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels (>40 U/L) and 25 patients with normal ALT levels (≤ 40 U/L)], 28 patients with hepatitis C who received therapy for 2 weeks and 16 patients received therapy for a full month or longer were included in the study. A sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the ficolin-2 concentrations in all serum samples of patients and 42 healthy donors. We found the concentrations of ficolin-2 were significantly higher in chronic hepatitis C patients with abnormal ALT values than in chronic hepatitis C patients with normal ALT values and healthy controls. Ficolin-2 concentrations in chronic hepatitis C patients with abnormal ALT values were positively correlated with ALT levels (P < 0.05). After therapy, the concentrations of ficolin-2 decreased and accompany with ALT and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA levels. Then, we found ficolin-2 concentrations in rapid viral response (RVR) group decreased significantly (P < 0.05), while in non-RVR group, ficolin-2 decreased slightly (P > 0.05). Our findings suggest that early increased ficolin-2 is highly correlated with hepatic inflammation and rapid viral response.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, Department of Immunology, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Allergy and Immunology, Wuhan University School of Medicine, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Y-L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: F-L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: T-L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: S-M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Y-D
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: X-L
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D037102:Lectins / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load; D000097604:Ficolins
chemical_list: D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D000998:Antiviral Agents; D037102:Lectins; D000097604:Ficolins