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The potential of angiogenesis soluble markers in chronic hepatitis C
Author(s) -
Salcedo Xamila,
Medina Jesús,
SanzCameno Paloma,
GarcíaBuey Luisa,
MartínVilchez Samuel,
Borque María J.,
LópezCabrera Manuel,
MorenoOtero Ricardo
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.20828
Subject(s) - angiogenesis , chronic hepatitis , medicine , hepatitis , pathology , immunology , virus
Angiogenesis, the formation of new vessels, has been reported to play a significant pathogenic role in liver damage–associated hepatitis C virus infection. Most of our current knowledge derives from immunohistochemical studies of hepatic biopsy samples obtained from chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients. We evaluated whether CHC is associated with elevated serum levels of angiogenesis markers and whether these are modulated by therapy. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), angiopoietin‐2 (Ang‐2), and soluble Tie‐2 (sTie‐2) were determined in the serum of 36 CHC patients, before and after receiving antiviral combination therapy with pegylated interferon alpha‐2b plus ribavirin, and in 15 healthy controls. CHC patients showed elevated baseline VEGF and Ang‐2 levels. After treatment, both factors were decreased, whereas antiangiogenic sTie‐2 was increased, indicating a shift toward an “anti‐angiogenic” profile of serum markers in CHC patients. In conclusion, this suggests that serum VEGF, Ang‐2, and sTie‐2 levels could be useful as noninvasive, mechanistically based markers of response to therapy and disease progression in CHC. (H EPATOLOGY 2005.)