Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of patients enrolled in this study.
| Control | HCV infected (treatment naïve) | Recombinant IFNα treated | Spontaneous clearance |
Relapsed | Cirrhosis of liver | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of patients | n = 20 | n = 20 | n = 20 | n = 20 | n = 20 | n = 20 |
| Mean age (range), years | 46 (30–62) | 48 (31–64) | 31 (31–54) | 28 (20–48) | 47 (30–60) | 52 (33–68) |
| Gender (male : female) | 10 : 10 | 15 : 05 | 14 : 06 | 14 : 06 | 18 : 02 | 15 : 05 |
| Median BMI (range), kg/m2 | 26 (21–32) | 24 (30–38) | 26 (21–32) | 30 (21–39) | 25.5 (20–38) | 26 (31–35) |
| ALT! ± SD (IU/L) | 37.42 ± 6.8 | 156 ± 6.3 | 121 ± 3.6 | 85 ± 5.8 | 126 ± 2.3 | 140 ± 8.5 |
| AST# ± SD (IU/L) | 34.65 ± 14.22 | 118 ± 5.5 | 156 ± 3.0 | 114 ± .3 | 125.23 ± 2.6 | 156 ± 4.3 |
| Median HCV RNA levels at baseline (103 IU/ml) | — | 425 (10–6500) | 25 (25–650) | BDL | 1560 (107–20000) | 3265 (129–2000) |
!Alanine aminotransferase level shown in IU/L with its standard deviations.
#Alanine aspartate aminotransferase level shown in IU/L with its standard deviations.
All enzymatic methods were done at 37°C, in a Beckman Coulter Synchron CX5 PRO, USA, instrument.
SD: standard deviation, BMI: basal metabolic index, and BDL: below detection limit.