The Expression And The Clinical Significance Of Serum Amyloid A In The Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection

AIM To investigate the clinical significance of Serum amyloid A(SAA) in the patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection,the concentration of SAA was detected by enzyme linked immunoadsorbent assay(ELISA) ,and the expression of SAA-mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was detected by RT-PCR.METHODS The concentration of SAA of 134 patients with hepatitis C virus infection and 20 normal controls was quantitatively detected by ELISA,meanwhile the expression of SAA-mRNA in PBMC from the part of the patients with HCV infection and normal controls samples was detected by RT-PCR. Furthermore the level of C reactive protein(CRP) of all samples was measured by immunoturbidimetry. The level of SAA or SAA-mRNA was compared with each group of the patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The relationship of the expression of SAA-mRNA and the concentration of SAA was analyzed by straight line correlation analysis.RESULTS (1) The expression of SAA was strikingly higher in the patients with HCV infection than that in normal controls (P< 0.01); There was no significant change between the patients with HCV-RNA positivity / ALT elevated HCV-RNA positivity / ALT normality and HCV-RNA negativity / ALT normality with and without interferon treatment; (2) No notable difference was found between the patients with high serum HCV-RNA titers (HCV-RNA≥10~6copies/ml) low serum HCV-RNA titers (HCV-RNA>500copies/ml, < 10~6copies/ml) and serum HCV-RNA under detectable level; (3) There was no significant change between the patients with ALT>5×ULN ALT>2-5×ULN, ALT 1-2×ULN and ALT normality; (4)There was positive correlation between the expression of SAA-mRNA detected by RT-PCR and the concentration of SAA measured by ELESA (r=0.86,P<0.01).CONCLUSIONS (1) Positive correlation is observed between the expression of SAA-mRNA detected by RT-PCR and the concentration of SAA measured by ELESA, however compare to RT-PCR, ELESA is more convenient shortcut and referring to clinic use; (2) SAA level was not positively correlated with HCV RNA titers; (3) SAA was a sensitive marker to show the inflammatory activity in the patients with HCV infection, and may be a completment to ALT for reflect liver inflammation.