Background: Chronic liver diseases are characterized by two fundamental aspects,persistent injury and fibrosis, which are cardinal features for the continuous progression towards cirrhosis and end stage liver failure.
Objective: To study the expression of platelets derived growth factor receptor ß(PDGFR- β) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF α) in the liver and their relation to the stage and grade of chronic HCV.
Patients and Methods: Analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on fiftypatients with proven chronic hepatitis C. All patients were referred to Tropical Medicine and Gastroenterology Department, Sohag University Hospital. Patients were categorized into two groups according to the histological stages of chronic hepatitis C as follows, group 1 includes 40 patients in stages 0,1 and 2; whereas group 2 includes 10 patients in stage 3. All patients were then recategorized according to the grades of inflammatory activity into patients with minimal and mild inflammation (G1+G2=32 patients) and those with moderate and severe inflammation (G3 +G4=18 patients). All patients were subjected to full history taking, complete clinical examination, complete blood count, liver function tests. Liver biopsy was evaluated for immunohistochemical expression of PDGFR- β and TNFα.
Results: The included patients were 80 % males and 20 % females. Their mean agewas 44.42±11.17 years. The mean average weighted scores (AWS) of Imunohisto-chemical expression of PDGFR- β, and TNFα were significantly higher in moderate and severe inflammation versus minimal and mild inflammation (P=0.05; 0.0001respectively). Similarly, the mean AWS of PDGFR- β, and TNFα were significantly higher in patients with stage 3 versus stages 0,1 and 2 (P=0.04; 0.0001 respectively). Conclusion: Expression of PDGFR- β, and TNFα markers were associated with progression of disease activity and fibrosis.