الفهرس 
Introduction and Review of LiteratureOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
It is known that toxoplasmosis rarely leads to various liver pathologies. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients are subject to a variety of cellular as well as humoral immunity disorders. Also, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is now recognized to be a major risk factor for HCC which triggers tolerance breakdown in specific conditions. It is aimed in this study to investigate the frequency of toxoplasmosis in patients with HCC. Serum samples from 134 HCC patients undergoing surgery and 205 samples from asymptomatic individuals were used for screening of HCV antigen and toxoplasma antigen (Toxo-Ag) using ELISA technique. 96 out of 134 serum samples (72%) of HCC patients and 51 out of 205 serum samples of asymptomatic individuals (25%) were positive for HCV antigen. 36 KDa toxoplasma antigen was purified from sera of HCC patients using electroelution technique and quantified in serum samples. A dose-response curve was constructed to estimate Toxo-Ag in serum samples and the cutoff level was set at 1.35 ng/ml. Of the 96 HCC patients associated with chronic HCV infection, 52 (54.2%) were Toxo-Ag positive. However, of the 38 HCC patients non-infected with HCV, 14 (36.8%) were positive for Toxo-Ag. 10 out of the 51 (19.7%) asymptomatic individuals positive for HCV-Ag were positive for Toxo-Ag . Also, 30 out of the 154 (19.5%) asymptomatic individuals negative for HCV-Ag were positive for Toxo-Ag.
A positive significant correlation was found between the concentration of Toxo-Ag and HCV-Ag in patients with HCC. Therefore, it may be considered that toxoplasmosis can cause more frequent and more severe diseases in patients with HCC and is capable of changing the course of the disease. There is a new lethal coinfection of HCV and toxoplasma; each accelerates the course of the other.