Table 2.

Characteristics of subjects at baseline, after 12 months, and at follow-up

	Group A Peg-IFNa + RBV (n=32)				Group B Peg IFNa + RBV + Silybin-Vit E-Phospholipids (n=32)
	Before treatment	After 6 months	After 12 months	Follow-up	Before treatment	After 6 months	After 12 months	Follow-up
AST (IU/l)	162.4±37.8	80.1±37.6C,*	54.2±32.6C,*	71.8±29.2C,**	175.6±41.8	70.6±35.2C,*	44.8±27.1C,*	50.6±24.2C,**
ALT (IU/l)	161.6±39.6	101.2±38.4C,*	69.2±27.8C,***	72.8±24.7C,***	170.2±40.6	92.8±37.1C,*	36.9±29.2C,***	44.2±28.2C,***
Bilirubin (mmol/l)	10.9±7.2	10.3±6.4A,*	10.1±6.5A,*	10.5±6.4A,*	10.6±7.1	10.2±6.3A,*	10.1±5.9A,*	10.2±5.6A,*
Viremia (106 IU/ml)	5.40±3.0	3.87±2.6B,**	3.24±2.1B,**	3.01±2.6B,**	5.32±2.8	2.02±2.4C,**	1.67±1.8C,**	1.84±1.3C,**
HAI	10.4±3.2	-	8.8±3.4A,*	-	10.7±3.7	-	7.8±3.6B,*	-
HA (ng/ml)	544±210	427±284A,*	402±218B,*	396±232B,*	596±232	408±201B,*	396±211B,*	411±236B,*
MMP-2 (ng/ml)	287±121	266±131A,**	271±134A,*	278±136A,*	302±136	196±144B,**	208±167B,*	206±154B,*
TGF-beta (ng/ml)	51.8±20.2	48.2±18.9A,*	45.2±18.2A,**	47.1±19.6A,**	54.2±21.4	44.6±20.2A,*	32.8±18.6C,**	35.9±19.2B,**
PIIINP (ng/ml)	44.7±6.4	41.2±7.8A,**	39.8±7.6B,**	40.2±7.8B,**	43.8±6.9	36.2±7.1C,**	33.4±7.8C,**	33.8±7.9C,**
TIMP-1 (ng/ml)	487.2±29.6	444.2±28.4C,***	421±29.8C,***	410.4±31.8C	480.2±31.8	396±32.4C,***	310.6±31.8C,***	334.6±36.2C,***

Comparison between groups:

^*NS;

^**p<0.05;

^***p<0.001.

Comparison within groups:

^ANS;

^Bp<0.05;

^Cp<0.001.

There were no significant differences between groups at baseline.