Abstract:

Objective To investigate the changes of interferon regulatory factor（IRF）-3 level in patients with chronic hepatitis C（CHC） and its relationship with hepatitis C virus（HCV） RNA load,the degree of liver injury and antiviral efficacy of interferon. Methods The levels of IRF-3 and beta-interferon（IFN-β） were determined for 26 healthy subjects and 57 patients with CHC. The alanine aminotransferase（ALT） activity,type Ⅳ collagen（CⅣ） level and HCV RNA load in plasma of CHC patients were also determined. According to the ALT activity,CⅣ level ,HCV RNA load and the efficacy of interferon therapy,the patients were classified into 2 groups. Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation among these parameters. Results The levels of plasma IRF-3 and IFN-β in CHC group were lower than those in healthy control group（P<0.01）. The levels of plasma IRF-3 had statistical significance between high ALT activity group and normal ALT activity group,high CⅣ level group and normal CⅣ level group,high HCV RNA load group and low HCV RNA load group（P<0.05）. Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that the IRF-3 level was positively correlated with IFN-β in CHC patients（r=0.930,P<0.01）,and showed negative correlations with HCV RNA load,ALT activity and CⅣ level（r values were -0.321,-0.290 and -0.345,respectively,P<0.05）. The IRF-3 level in response group was lower than those in non-response group（P<0.05）,and there was no statistical significance in IFN-β levels between the 2 groups（P>0.05）. Conclusions The level of plasma IRF-3 in CHC patients is related to HCV RNA load,the degree of hepatic cell damage and the degree of hepatic fibrosis,and it is valuable to judge the efficacy of IFN.

Key words: Interferon regulatory factor-3, Beta-interferon, Hepatitis C virus, Chronic hepatitis C