Table 2.

Comparison of the serum level of MMP-1 and TGF-β₁ between patients at different fibrosis stages, inflammation grades, and with different severities of the disease and the healthy controls (¯x ± s)

Group (n)	MMP-1 ( μg/L)	TGF-β1 ( μg/L)
Controls (20)	7.98 ± 3.13	26.28 ± 16.69
S2 (16)	6.34 ± 2.96	31.66 ± 18.01
S3 (31)	6.80 ± 5.34	34.19 ± 26.23
S4 (13)	3.93 ± 2.93ac	25.16 ± 20.90
G2 (2)	7.66 ± 0.36	18.25 ± 6.01
G3 (28)	6.41 ± 4.91	31.89 ± 21.61
G4 (30)	5.61 ± 4.15a	32.14 ± 25.25
Mild disease (28)	6.56 ± 3.66	34.39 ± 24.43
Severe disease (32)	5.61 ± 5.05	29.08 ± 21.97

There was a statistically significant difference as compared with the control group

^aP < 0.05, and a statistically significant differ-ence as compared with S2 group

^cP < 0.05.