ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Several studies investigated the possible role of adipokines during chronic viral hepatitis, not producing defined results neither clearly establishing their behavior in course of anti-viral treatment. Our study evaluated blood concentrations of adiponectin and resistin in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), B (CHB), and D (CHD) receiving anti-viral treatment, at baseline and after therapy. METHODS: We examined 122 subjects, divided into two groups: 64 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (38 males and 26 females, mean age 47.25 yr) and 58 patients including 39 ones with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (26 males and 13 females, mean age 48.46 yr) and 19 ones with chronic HBV-hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection (15 males and 4 females, mean age 45.79 yr). Serum levels of adiponectin and resistin were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: In the group of CHC patients we observed a significant decrease in resistin after therapy (p=0.006), while not a significant increase in adiponectin after treatment (p=0.32). Evaluation of changes in adiponectin and resistin levels after anti-viral treatment, both in responders and non-responders, revealed no significant variations. In the group of HBV+ and HBV-HDV+ patients, we found a decrease in resistin after therapy (p=0.0016) and a not significant reduction in adiponectin after treatment (p=0.13). Furthermore, we noticed a significant reduction of resistin (p=0.006) in the sub-group of responders. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggested the possible marker role of adiponectin and resistin in the inflammatory process in course of chronic viral hepatitis.