Table 4.
Comparison of clinical, immunological, virological and histological parameters in mixed cryoglobulinaemia patients with and without intrahepatic TCR Vβ gene rearrangements
| HCV chronic infection | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mixed cryoglobulinaemia | ||||
| With | Without | |||
| Vβ T cell gene rearrangements | ||||
| Parameters | With | Without | With | Without |
| Patients, n | 23 | 7 | 15 | 6 |
| Epidemiological | ||||
| Age (years) | 66·0 ± 4·7 | 64·3 ± 9·6 | 60·5 ± 12 | 61·3 ± 11·7 |
| Duration of HCV infection (years) | 18·5 ± 3·6 | 17·3 ± 2·5 | 20·8 ± 6·6 | 18·4 ± 5·9 |
| Virological | ||||
| HCV RNA | ||||
| Circulating (IU/ml) | 1 224 130 ± 803 350 | 1 090 606 ± 909 300 | 1 440 090 ± 660 449 | 1 360 880 ± 707 412 |
| Intrahepatic (pg/g) | 1120 ± 704* | 406 ± 216 | 1010 ± 860* | 396 ± 284 |
| Genotype | ||||
| I | 9 | 3 | 8 | 4 |
| II | 14 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
| Biochemical | ||||
| ALT (IU/ml) | 70 ± 24 | 78 ± 19 | 101 ± 31 | 98 ± 16 |
| Liver histology | ||||
| Chronic active hepatitis without cirrhosis (%) | 21 (91) | 6 (86) | 13 (87) | 5 (83) |
| Activity index | 6·7 ± 1·5 | 4·8 ± 0·9 | 7·1 ± 2·2 | 5·5 ± 1·6 |
| Stage | 2·6 ± 0·8 | 2·9 ± 0·6 | 3·0 ± 1·0 | 3·1 ± 0·96 |
| Cirrhosis (%) | 2 (9) | 1 (14) | 2 (13) | 1 (17) |
ALT: alanine aminotransferase; HCV: hepatitis C virus; TCR: T cell receptor; V: variable.