International Journal of Microbiology and Immunology Research Vol. 3(2), pp. 020-028, March 2015 ISSN 2327-7769 ©2015 Academe Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Pre-treatment of serum ferritin in prediction of early virologic response in patients with Chronic Hepatitis C receiving pegylated interferon and ribavirin combination therapy

Amir Helmy¹, Shereen A. Saleh¹, Heba M Abdella²* and Runia Fouad El Folly²

¹Department of Internal Medicine, Ain Shams University, Egypt.

²Department of Tropical Medicine, Ain Shams University, Egypt.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: hbabdella@yahoo.com.

Accepted 1 March, 2015

Abstract

Many studies have been performed on the role of serum ferritin in the pathogenesis and treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C (CHC). Serum iron and serum ferritin have been suggested as predictors of therapeutic response to IFN therapy. However, the correlation between serum ferritin level and therapeutic response to IFN and RBV combination therapy remains controversial. This study aims to assess the value of pretreatment serum ferritin as a predictor of early virological response in CHC patients receiving a combination therapy of Pegylated-Interferon and Ribavirin. This study was conducted on 96 naive patients with CHC virus infection genotype 4. All patients were subjected to full history taking, and thorough clinical examination. Continuous monitoring of the liver profile and serum ferritin level was done. However, quantitative monitoring of the HCVRNA was done at 4 and 12 weeks of the treatment by the PCR. It was observed that 64 patients (66.6%) achieved early virological response (EVR), 54 of which (56.2%) achieved RVR at week 4. The level of pretreatment serum ferritin was lower in patient who achieved EVR. Serum ferritin increased significantly during the first 12 weeks of therapy in the EVR group when compared to the non EVR group. Our study pointed out that lower pretreatment serum ferritin levels and its increase during the course of treatment was associated with EVR in CHC patients receiving PEGINF and Ribavirin combination therapy.

Key words: Hepatitis C, fibrosis, ferritin, interferon.