Expression of apoptotic markers BCL-2 and Bax in chronic hepatitis C virus patients.

Objectives: Hepatitis C viral infection(HCV) influence the susceptibility to apoptosis. This could lead to insufficient antiviral immune response and persistent viral infection.

Design And Methods: Group 1: chronic HCV patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites. Group 2: chronic HCV patients without liver cirrhosis and group 3: healthy subjects as control group. Bcl-2 and Bax expression were evaluated by flowcytometry.

Results: HCV patients (with cirrhosis and ascites) had a statistically significantly low Bcl-2 expression, a significantly high Bax expression and a significantly decreased Bcl-2/Bax ratio compared with controls. While, the results are inverted in the other HCV group. Both groups of HCV, Bcl-2/Bax ratio showed a significant positive correlation with Bcl-2 and a significantly negative correlation with Bax.

Conclusions: Chronic HCV exhibit a deregulation of apoptosis with the disease progression. This provides an insight into the pathogenesis of chronic HCV infection, and may contribute to the therapy.