Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has major health impact worldwide and is a significant cause of chronic liver disease. In Egypt, HCV is highly endemic (up to 15% of the population); 91% of the patients are infected with genotype 4. Searching for new predictors of response to therapy is mandatory to decrease the cost and the adverse effects of current therapy.
Aim: The aim of this study was to clarify the usefulness of serum leptin, adiponectin, and insulin resistance (IR) as predictors of response to treatment in hepatitis C virus genotype 4 (HCVG4).
Methods: One hundred patients with chronic HCVG4 who were candidates for treatment with pegylated interferon α and ribavirin were included in the study. Age, sex, and BMI were determined, and quantitative HCV PCR, assessment of serum leptin, adiponectin, IR, and pretreatment liver profile, and liver biopsy were performed.
Results: The male to female ratio was 68/32; the mean age of the patients was 40.9 ± 7.8 years and BMI was 28.3 ± 10 kg/m. Sustained virological response (SVR) was achieved by 56% of the patients. On performing logistic regression, BMI [odds ratio (OR) 6.5; P=0.004], serum leptin (OR 27.8; P ≤ 0.001), aspartate aminotransferase (OR 1.06; P ≤ 0.001), IR (OR 1.15; P ≤ 0.001), histological activity index (OR 1.77; P=0.006), and fibrosis (OR 2.93; P=0.001) were found to be independent negative predictors of SVR, whereas serum adiponectin (OR 0.74; P ≤ 0.001) was found to be an independent positive predictor of SVR. Pretreatment adiponectin (cutoff 13.75; sensitivity 92.86%; specificity 86.86%) shows area under the curve of 0.879 (95% confidence interval 0.802-0.956; P<0.001) and insignificant area under the curve for leptin or IR.
Conclusion: BMI, pretreatment high leptin levels, and IR are negative predictors for SVR and pretreatment low adiponectin levels are an independent positive predictor for SVR in HCVG4.