RESEARCH ARTICLE


Plasma Levels of Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9 and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α in Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Patients



Mohamed S Abdel-Latif*
Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Allied Medical Science, Pharos University in Alexandria, Egypt


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Creative Commons License
© Mohamed S. Abdel-Latif; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode), which permits unrestricted, noncommercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Allied Medical Science, Pharos University in Alexandria, Egypt; Tel: +(203) 3877640; Fax: +(203) 3830249; E-mail: mohamed.abdellatif@pua.edu.eg


Abstract

Background:

In chronic HCV infection, pathological accumulation of the extracellular matrix is the main feature of liver fibrosis; that indicates the imbalanced rate of increased matrix synthesis to decreased breakdown of connective tissue proteins. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a crucial role in remodeling of extracellular matrix. It is known that expression of MMPs is regulated by Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. Also, levels of TNF-α in liver and serum are increased in chronic HCV patient. Accordingly, this study aimed to correlate the plasma levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and TNF-α in chronic HCV patients with the pathogenesis of the liver.

Methods:

The current study was conducted on 15 fibrotic liver cases with detectable HCV RNA, 10 HCV cirrhotic liver cases, and 15 control subjects of matched age and sex. Plasma MMP-2, MMP-9 and TNF-α were measured by ELISA.

Results:

Data revealed that the MMP2, MMP9 and TNF-α levels showed a significant elevation in chronic HCV patients compared to control group (p= 0.001). But, no significant correlation was observed in levels of MMP-2, MMP-9, and TNF-α between fibrotic and cirrhotic cases.

Conclusions:

MMP-2, MMP-9 and TNF-α showed high reproducibility to differentiate chronic HCV patients from control group. On the contrary, MMP-2, MMP-9 and TNF-α were not able to differentiate fibrotic from cirrhotic liver cases. Thus, MMP-2, MMP-9 and TNF-α could not be correlated with the progression of liver disease. Rather they could be used as prognostic markers of liver fibrosis.

Keywords: Metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, MMP-2, TNF-α, liver firbrosis, HCV.