C282Y and H63D mutations in the HFE gene are not associated with porphyria cutanea tarda in bulgaria

✍ Scribed by Aneta Ivanova; Nicolas von Ahsen; Dimtcho Adjarov; Zahari Krastev; Michael Oellerich; Eberhard Wieland

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 54 KB
• Volume: 30
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0270-9139
• DOI: 10.1002/hep.510300626

✦ Synopsis

Viral genotyping was performed in 61 patients with untreated chronic hepatitis C using the Inno-Lipa HCV II assay (Innogenetics, Zwijnaarde, Belgium). Steatosis was graded as previously reported. 1 The association between viral genotype and steatosis was tested using the Pearson' s 2 statistic and the mean differences in BMI across levels of steatosis were assessed using one-way analysis of variance.

There was a striking association between grade of steatosis and viral genotype 3a (Table 1) (P ϭ .01). In subjects with viral genotype 1, there was a significant relationship between increasing BMI and grade of steatosis (P ϭ .03). In the group with viral genotype 3a, patients without steatosis were leaner (mean BMI 24 Ϯ 3.3) than those with steatosis (BMI 27 Ϯ 4.9). However in genotype 3a, there was no significant relationship between grade of steatosis and increasing BMI.

As previously reported, 1 there was overall a significant association between grade of steatosis and increasing fibrosis, and this did not differ between genotypes 1 and 3a.

We agree with the conclusions of Dr. Adinolfi et al. that in patients infected with HCV genotype 1, increasing BMI has a role in the pathogenesis of steatosis. In patients with genotype 3a, steatosis may be caused by a cytopathic effect of the virus; however, we suspect that host body fat also contributes as a cofactor. This suggests that efforts to restore a lean BMI may be relevant in patients infected with either genotype.