Table 1.
Patient characteristics classified by disease progression
| Characteristica | Value for patients with: |
P | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CH (n = 25) | LC (n = 29) | HCC (n = 25) | ||
| No. male/female | 14/11 | 10/19 | 12/13 | 0.278 |
| Age (yr) (mean ± SD) | 63.4 ± 14.6 | 66.5 ± 9.2 | 68.4 ± 8.2 | 0.539 |
| Platelets (10−4/mm3) (mean ± SD) | 16.1 ± 4.7 | 9.8 ± 3.9 | 11.1 ± 5.1 | <0.001 |
| Albumin (g/dl) (mean ± SD) | 4.4 ± 0.3 | 3.9 ± 0.6 | 3.5 ± 0.5 | <0.001 |
| γ-GTP (IU/liter) (median [range]) | 53.5 (12–230) | 38.0 (12–108) | 40.8 (15–110) | 0.845 |
| T. chol. (mg/dl) (mean ± SD) | 161 ± 28 | 148 ± 30 | 140 ± 28 | 0.053 |
| HCV RNA (kIU/ml) (median [range]) | 7,047 (501–19,953) | 5,369 (126–25,119) | 8,421 (110–25,119) | 0.288 |
| Alpha-fetoprotein (ng/ml) (median [range]) | 5.0 (1.1–16.5) | 32.2 (1.0–252.6) | 614.8 (1.9–13,418) | <0.001 |
| AST (IU/liter) (mean ± SD) | 42.4 ± 17.8 | 51.1 ± 23.5 | 59.1 ± 28.2 | 0.046 |
| ALT (IU/liter) (mean ± SD) | 46.6 ± 23.1 | 43.9 ± 29.3 | 60.7 ± 52.7 | 0.263 |
| No. with R/(Q/H) at core aa 70b | 19/6 | 12/17 | 8/17 | 0.005 |
| No. with L/(M/C) at core aa 91b | 17/8 | 19/10 | 15/10 | 0.834 |
| No. of ISDR mutations (median [range])b | 0.8 (0–6) | 1.2 (0–7) | 0.9 (0–8) | 0.799 |
| No. of IRRDR mutations (median [range])b | 4.9 (1–10) | 4.7 (2–9) | 5.2 (1–12) | 0.962 |
| No. with TT/non-TT at IL28B SNP (rs8099917) | 18/7 | 17/12 | 14/11 | 0.458 |
| No. without/with a history of interferon therapy | 14/11 | 16/13 | 15/10 | 0.933 |
a
T. chol., total cholesterol; AST, aspartate transaminase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase.
b
Core aa 70, core aa 91, the interferon sensitivity-determining region (ISDR), and the interferon-ribavirin resistance-determining region (IRRDR) were dominant viral sequences determined by direct sequencing.