background: the clinical significance of antiphospholipid antibodies in patients with chronic hepatitis c virus (hcv) and some other viral infections is controversial. objective: to study the prevalence of anticardiolipin antibody (acla) and antibeta2glycoproteini antibody (antibeta2gpi antibody) in hcv and hepatitis b virus (hbv) infected patients and its association with liver clinical parame...

OBJECTIVES To identify all of the patients affected by chronic hepatitis C infection treated with TNF-α blockers (adalimumab, certolizumab pegol, etanercept, golimumab and infliximab) in order to evaluate the safety profile. METHODS A systematic review of the literature from January 1990 to October 2010. RESULTS In total, 37 publications with data on 153 patients who were treated with anti-...

AIMS/BACKGROUND Current therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is based on the administration of interferon alpha (IFN) alone or in combination with other anti-viral agents. However, such therapy is effective in only a minority of selected patients. Long-term ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) treatment has been reported to improve liver function and structure especially in cholestatic ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Most patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) develop chronic infection and persistent viraemia. The immune mechanisms responsible for resolution of viraemia remain poorly understood. HCV specific humoral and cellular immune responses in patients with and without viraemia were investigated. METHODS In vitro T helper (TH) lymphocyte responses to structural and non-structu...

Antibody responses to the GOR autoepitope are frequently detected among anti-hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV)-positive patients with chronic hepatitis. Sera from 110 anti-HCV-negative patients with occult HCV infection, as diagnosed by detection of HCV RNA in hepatic tissue, were investigated for GOR antibody reactivity. A positive test for anti-GOR immunoglobulin G (IgG) was found for 22 (20%) of ...

Background: Infection with hepatitis B, C, and delta viruses (HBV/HCV/HDV) caused by mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) is still a serious health problem worldwide. Coinfection HBV/HDV or HCV has been shown to accelerate the progression of chronic HBV infection, resulting in higher mortality. Objectives: The aim this study was evaluate prevalence anti-HCV, anti-HDV, anti-HIV antibodies mothers...

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection is a common cause of chronic liver disease but is rarely diagnosed at the stage of acute hepatitis C. HCV becomes chronic in about 85% of individuals and leads to cirrhosis in 5 to 30 percent of cases [1]. The chronic course of acute infection should be avoided to prevent the potential risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepa...

Four virological markers of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are used clinically for management of patients with hepatitis C, namely the HCV genotype, HCV RNA, HCV core antigen, and antibody to HCV (anti-HCV). The diagnosis of acute and chronic hepatitis C is based on both anti-HCV detection using enzyme immunoassays (EIA) and HCV RNA detection using a sensitive molecular biology-based techniq...

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with impaired proliferative, cytokine, and cytotoxic effector functions of HCV-specific CD8(+) T cells that probably contribute significantly to viral persistence. Here, we investigated the potential role of T cells with a CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory phenotype in suppressing virus-specific CD8(+) T-cell proliferation during chronic HCV infect...

Background and Aims: Interferon alpha is an effective cytokine in viral infections, where it has various roles in immune function. The use of this antiviral agent in the treatment of viral infections and even cancers is common, although, the beneficial effects of this antiviral agent in high doses can be associated with side effects that limit its use. In this project, we tried to investigate t...