الفهرس 
Title : Clinical significance of Beclin-1, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bad and Bax in the whole spectrum of HCV-related chronic liver diseases
AbstractOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Autophagy plays an important role in the pathogenesis of many diseases such as liver diseases. However, the exact part it plays remains unclear. We investigated the mRNA expression levels of Beclin-1 (autophagic component), proapoptotic components (Bad, Bax), and antiapoptotic components (Bcl-2, Bcl-xL) in venous blood samples drawn from hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 4-infected patients with or without hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The study included 30 healthy people (control group), 64 chronic hepatitis C patients in early hepatic fibrosis stages [grades 0 and 1 fibrosis] (F0-1 group), 36 chronic hepatitis C patients in late hepatic fibrosis stages [grades 2 and 3 fibrosis] (F2-3 group), and 47 chronic hepatitis C patients with HCC (HCC group). The F0-1 group and F2-3 group were called chronic hepatitis group. qPCR was used to measure mRNA expression levels of the different parameters in the samples. Beclin-1, Bad, and Bax mRNA expression levels were significantly higher in the F0-1 group than in the F2-3 and control groups (P<0.01), while Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL mRNA expression levels were significantly lower (P<0.01). Moreover, Beclin-1, and Bad mRNA expression levels were significantly lower in the HCC group than in the chronic hepatitis and control groups (P<0.01), while Bcl-2, and Bcl-xL mRNA expression levels were significantly higher (P=0.04; P<0.01 respectively). These results demonstrate that autophagy-related genes play an important role as diagnostic and prognostic factors in both the early stages of hepatic fibrosis in HCV genotype 4-infected patients, and chronic hepatitis C patients who are susceptible to HCC development