The role of plasma transforming growth factor beta-1 in the development of fibrosis in patient with HCV related steatohepatitis.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem worldwide, which causes high rate of chronic liver disease such as liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Plasma transforming growth factor Beta-1 (TGFB-1) is a member of large family of peptides, which has a major regulatory role in hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis. The study evaluated the role of transforming growth factor Beta-1 (TGFB-1) in induction of fibrosis in liver parasites-free HCV patients with related steatohepatitis. Thirty HCV patients who were clinically and serologically positive were selected. They were diagnosed as fatty liver by abdominal ultrasonography; steatohepatitis and confirmed by histopathological biopsies examination. ELISA evaluated plasma transforming growth factor Beta-1 (TGFB-1) level. Also, 12 cross-matched subjects clinically, parasitologically and serologically free were used as a controls. The level of plasma transforming growth factor Beta-1 (TGFB-1) was highly elevated in the patients versus controls with mean +/- SD 18739.86 +/- 18539.46 and 6465 +/- 1142 respectively (P < 0.001). The TGFB-1 level in HCV related steato-hepatitis was elevated in all grades in contrast to controls (P < 0.05), without relation between the TGFB-1 levels and steatohepatitis severity. The TGFB-1 level showed high significant difference in all stages of fibrosis in patients in contrast to controls and the TGFB-1 level was very high when fibrosis started in stage I (P < 0.01) and tended to decrease in fibrosis of stage 2 & 3 (P < 0.05). There was highly significant positive correlation between TGFB-1 and body mass index (BMI) r = 0.774.