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Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has emerged as a major cause of liver diseaseworldwide. Once infected by hepatitis C virus, patients have a high chance ofdeveloping a chronic disease progression, possibly leading to cirrhosis or evenhepatocellular carcinoma. Resistance or susceptibility to viral infections is criticallylinked to cytokine release, which can be polarized towards a type I (IFN y, TNF-a.IL-2) or type 2 (IL4, IL 10, IL13) pattern in helper as well as cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. Interleukin 10 is considered typical cytokine released from activated T-helper 2 type cells. Interleukin 10 can suppress anti-viral immuno-reaction and istherefore responsible for chronic procession of HCV infection.
On basis of the previous data this work was designed to evaluate the role ofInterleukin 10 as a marker of T-helper 2 activity and its importance in chronicity ofhepatitis C virus.
This study was carried out in Medical Biochemistry, Tropical Medicinedepartments and clinical pathology department, Faculty of Medicine. ZagazigUniversity during the period between June 2004 and October 2005. Forty fivesubjects (males and females) were included in the study. They were divided into 3groups as follows:Group I: (Control group) 15 healthy individuals.Group II: 15 individuals with positive ELISA test for hepatitis C antibodies, butnegative PCR test for HCV RNA.Group III: 15 patients with positive ELISA test for hepatitis C antibodies andpositive PCR test for HCV RNA.