Assessment of Tumor Necrosis Factor Related Apoptosis Inducing Ligand [TRAIL FACTOR] In Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem and a leading cause of chronic liver disease worldwide (Strader et al., 2004). The highest prevalence has been reported from Egypt (Frank et al., 2000; Perz et al., 2006). Genotype-4a constitutes the majority of infection in Egypt (Nguyen and Keeffe., 2005; Kamal and Nasser., 2008). The current standard of care for treating patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection is a combination of Peg-IFN-α and ribavirin for 24 or 48 weeks (Strader et al., 2004). Several factors are predictive of favorable virological responses to standard antiviral therapy. Clinical investigations of patients with non-response to IFN-based therapy have focused on various issues to maximize the response to antiviral therapy. Since TRAIL factor sero-positivity among patients with chronic HCV infection is not a rare entity (Biyikoglu et al., 2007), several studies investigated the relation between the presence of TRAIL factor and the response to interferon therapy. To fulfill the aim of the work, this study was designed to assess the prognostic value of TRAIL factor serum Summary 87 level for EVR after 3 months of combined therapy by pegylated interferon and ribavirin in chronic HCV infection in Egyptia