الفهرس 
Natural History of Hepatitis COnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
HCV infection is a major global health problem. More than 170 million people worldwide are infected with HCV (Poynard et al., 2003, Shepard et al., 2005, Kamal and Nasser, 2008). HCV is a causative agent of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and HCC (Hishiki et al., 2010). In Egypt, HCV prevalence is ~15%, which is considered the highest prevalence worldwide, with genotype 4 being the most common, and responsible for 90% of HCV infections in Egypt (Egyptian Ministry of Health, 2007, Kamal and Nasser, 2008, El-Zanaty F. and Ann Way., 2009).
There are several possible outcomes after infection with HCV (Alter et al., 1992). The consequences of chronic infection also vary: some individuals develop minor or no liver damage, whereas others suffer from progressive chronic hepatitis leading to liver cirrhosis, and even HCC. The reasons for the diversity of outcomes of HCV infection are still unclear. Many host factors may be important. These factors include male sex, an older age at infection, increased alcohol intake, coinfection with HIV-1 or HBV, and insulin resistance (Sanchez-Quijano et al., 1995, Poynard et al., 1997, Wiley et al., 1998, Zarski et al., 1998, Mohsen and the Trent HCV Study Group, 2001, Sud et al., 2004, Price et al., 2006).
HCV particles circulating in the blood of HCV carriers associate with lipoproteins. Several lipoproteins groups contain ApoE, which has three common isoforms ApoE2, ApoE3 and ApoE4.
Due to polymorphisms existing in the ApoE gene, the study aimed to find out if the difference in these isoforms may affect the outcome of HCV infection.
This cross-sectional study was done in the period between June 2011 and February 2013. It included 40 Egyptian patients who were recruited from Internal Medicine and Hepatology outpatient clinics and inpatient wards at Ain Shams University Hospitals, in addition to a control group of 20 healthy volunteers.
The patients were classified into 2 groups: Decompensated HCV-positive group, and Compensated HCV-positive group. Another 20 healthy volunteers were also enrolled in the study as a control group to determine the prevalence of ApoE different genotypes in Egyptian population.
All subjects enrolled in the study were subjected to detailed history taking, full physical examination, laboratory investigations, imaging studies which included Pelvi-Abdominal Ultrasonography, and ApoE genotyping using PCR and restriction enzyme (HhaI).
The study reported that there was a difference in the prevalence of ApoE-4 heterozygous genotype in the second group (decompensated patients) in relation to the first group (compensated patients) and control group (0% in the second group vs. 10% in each of the other two groups). However, this difference was non-significant statistically. Moreover, the prevalence of ApoE-4 heterozygous genotype was found to be 10% among the control group, which may reflect the prevalence among Egyptian population.