Effect of an angiotensin-II type-1 receptor blocker, candesartan on hepatic fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Recent studies have shown that blocking of angiotensin-II signaling can attenuate liver fibrosis in various experimental models. The aim of this study was to examine the clinical effect of an angiotensin-II type-1 receptor blocker, candesartan, on the progression of hepatic fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C patients.

METHODOLOGY: Twelve chronic hepatitis C patients with hypertension enrolled as candesartan-treated patients and followed up prospectively, were compared with age- and sex-matched 20 chronic hepatitis C patients with no candesartan treatment. We evaluated alterations in hepatic fibrosis grades with these noninvasive fibrotic indexes: Forns index, the AST to platelet ratio index (APRI) and FibroIndex, every 3 months.

RESULTS

There were initially no significant differences between the candesartan-treated and control groups in clinical characteristics. Candesartan treatment induced a significant improvement in Forns Index, APRI and FibroIndex during treatment in comparison with the control group. There were no severe side effects in the candesartan group.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that candesartan in regular doses has an anti-fibrotic effect on patients with chronic hepatitis C.