Background: Chronic stimulation of circulating monocytes and macrophages in hepatitis C virus infection can cause CD163 to be realesed into the circulation from their cell surface. Soluble CD163 (sCD163) can be used as a biomarker of macrophage activation, severity of HCV infection and level of inflammation.
Objective: In this study we determined the levels of soluble CD163 in HCV infected patients with different clinical outcomes and we correlated them to different biochemical indicators for disease progression and monocytic cell surface markers (CD14, CD16).
Methods: Our study was conducted on 60 HCV infected patients:20 patients with chronic HCV infection without cirrhosis; 20 patients with cirrhosis,20 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and 20 individuals who were healthy controls. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from all subjects and were used in flow cytometric determination of CD14 and CD16 monocytic surface markers . Levels of sCD163 in serum and culture supernatents were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.
Results: Our results demonstrated a significant increase in double positive monocytic cells in patients groups especially those with cirrhosis compared to the control group. Moreover soluble CD163 levels were significantly increased in HCV patients with different clinical outcomes. The relation between serum CD163 and double positive monocytes was shown to be significantly negative. However, there was a substantial positive connection between these monocytic surface markers and mitogen-induced CD163.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that HCV infection tends to upregulate CD163 shedding into circulation with a variety of clinical outcomes, allowing sCD163 to be employed as a biomarker for disease severity in HCV infection.