title: Circulating levels of collagen III and MMP-1 in patients with chronic hepatitis C co-infected with hepatitis B virus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is controversial data in the literature about the characteristics and features of dual hepatitis B and hepatitis C infection. This work is concerned with estimating the extent to which HBV could influence circulating levels of hepatitis C viral nonstructural-4 (HCV-NS4) in addition to some direct fibrosis markers in chronic hepatitis C.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-eight HCV mono-infected and 87 HCV/HBV co-infected patients constituted this study. Western-blot and ELISA were used for identifying HCV-NS4, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), collagen III and matrixmetalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) in patients' sera.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) provided area under curve (AUC) of 0.97 for identifying HBV-patients with 89% sensitivity and 94% specificity, while HCV-NS4 antigen provided an AUC of 0.95 for identifying HCV-patients with 89% sensitivity and absolute specificity (100%). In general, patients with significant fibrosis (F2-F4) showed significantly higher concentration of collagen III (P = 0.009) and lower concentrations of MMP-1 (P = 0.007) when compared to patients with minimal fibrosis (F1). However, HCV/HBV co-infected patients with F1 and F2-F4 did not show any significant difference (P > 0.05) from HCV mono-infected patients with respect to HCV-NS4, collagen III and MMP-1. These results indicate that HBV does not influence the rate of HCV-NS4 synthesis and the deposition of extracellular matrix in HCV/HBV co-infected patients and subsequently does not affect the progression rates of hepatic fibrosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HCV/HBV co-infected and HCV- mono-infected patients had similar clinical characteristics and there is no effect of HBV co-infection on the progression rates of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C patients.
authors.affiliation: a Biotechnology Research Center , New Damietta , Egypt.
authors.forename: Abdelfattah M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Attallah
authors.affiliation: b Faculty of Science , Mansoura University , Mansoura , Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El-Far
authors.affiliation: c Faculty of Science , Zagazig University , Zagazig , Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Ghaly
authors.affiliation: d Faculty of Science , Helwan University , Cairo , Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Omran
authors.affiliation: a Biotechnology Research Center , New Damietta , Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Albannan
authors.affiliation: a Biotechnology Research Center , New Damietta , Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmed A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Attallah
authors.affiliation: a Biotechnology Research Center , New Damietta , Egypt.
authors.forename: Tarek M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Shoghey
authors.affiliation: a Biotechnology Research Center , New Damietta , Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Atrees
authors.affiliation: a Biotechnology Research Center , New Damietta , Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Elbendary
authors.affiliation: e Faculty of Medicine , Mansoura University , Mansoura , Egypt.
authors.forename: Khaled
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Farid
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D060085:Coinfection / Q000097:blood* / Q000821:virology*; D024061:Collagen Type III / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000097:blood* / Q000821:virology; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000502:physiology*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D020781:Matrix Metalloproteinase 1 / Q000097:blood*; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D024061:Collagen Type III; C093542:NS4 protein, hepatitis C virus; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins; C522360:MMP1 protein, human; D020781:Matrix Metalloproteinase 1
keywords: Chronic hepatitis C; HCV-NS4; Western-blot; co-infection; fibrosis markers; hepatitis B