Abstract:

Objective    To study the relationship of expression level of serum interleukin-8 (IL-8)  and HCV genotypes in patients with chronic hepatitis C and observe the change of serum IL-8 level after antivirus treatment.  Methods    HCV genotypes were determined using DNA chip assay in 74 chronic hepatitis C patients. Serum IL-8 of these patients was determined using bi-antibody sandwich ABC-ELISA assay. Levels of IL-8 in chronic hepatitis C patients with different genotypes were compared. The change of IL8 level after 12 weeks of antivirus treatment was observed. Results    Levels of serum IL-8 in chronic hepatitis C patients and healthy controls were (42.95±50.00)pg/mL and( 11.06±1.39)pg/mL, respectively（P＜0.01），and in patients infected with genotype 1b and genotype 2a were ( 52.72±60.67)pg/mL and (26.93±13.97)pg/mL, respectively（P＜0.05）. After 12 weeks of antivirus treatment, the serum IL-8 level in patients with undetectable HCV RNA decreased from (41.20±25.89)pg/mL to (23.89±10.59 )pg/mL（P＜0.01）.  Conclusions    The serum level of IL-8 in patients with chronic hepatitis C significantly increases compared with that in healthy controls. The IL8 level in patients with genotype 1b is higher than that in patients with genotype 2a. The IL-8 level in patients with undetectable HCV RNA significantly decreases after antivirus treatment.

Key words: Hepatitis C, Chronic; Interleukin8; Genotype; Antivirus treatment