الفهرس 
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Abstract
Hepatitis C causes an infectious disease of the liver (hepatitis) that affects up to 170 million people globally, with three to four million new infections occurring each year. More than 350,000 people are estimated to die from HCV-related liver diseases each year globally.
In Europe and the United States chronic hepatitis C is the most common chronic liver disease. The majority of liver transplants performed in these regions are for chronic HCV.
In Africa and the Western Pacific, prevalence is significantly higher than in North America and Europe.
Egypt has the highest prevalence of HCV, 10% of Egyptians are chronically infected and infectious, creating a large reservoir that supplies the spread of the disease, mainly through hospitals and clinic.
The most efficient transmission route of hepatitis C virus is percutaneous exposure. Exposure to unsafe healthcare practice including hemodialysis has been reported to be one of the most important risk factors associated with HCV infection, even in western countries.
Mother-to-child vertical transmission of HCV is reported to occur in 3 - 10% of cases, mostly in the late intrauterine period, at delivery or in the peri-natal period.
The efficiency of the sexual transmission of HCV has been the subject of extensive debate and it is generally considered to be very low.
Both adaptive immune response and innate immune system have a defense roll against HCV infection.
Mannose binding lectin (MBL) is an acute phase reactant that is secreted from the liver and is critical in host defenses against a spectrum of bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic pathogens it works in the first line of host defense, by activating complement through lectin pathway.
MBL can bind through multiple lectin domains to the carbohydrate moieties expressed on the surface of many microbial organisms, and activate macrophages and the complement system cascade. It is also reported that serum MBL play an important role in regulating the production of proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1βby monocytes in response to microbial infection.
The aim of this work is to evaluate the role of mannose binding lectin in pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis C virus infection patients in sohag government.
The present study was conducted on two groups, group I (HCV patients) include 50 positive HCV patients and and group II (control group) include 35 healthy volunteers as a control group who were serologically HCV free.
All Subjects underwent Routine laboratory investigations include, Complete Blood Count (CBC), Detection of anti-HCV antibodies and Liver function tests [Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST), alanine phosphatase (ALP), Total bilirubin (TP) and Albumin].
And specific investigations include Mannose Binding Lectin (MBL) by ELISA and Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay for HCV.
In our study MBL was higher in HCV patients than control group with mean (8.16 ug / L ± 1.06) in HCV patients (group I) versus (3.29 ug / L ± 0.68) in control group (group II) and this elevation was statistically significant (p < 0. 5).
As regard liver function tests, it was performed on group I (HCV patient) and group II (control group) and the results was as follow:
As regard serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in group I (HCV patients) it was (69.42 ± 20.19) versus (16.06 ± 5.7) in group II (control group) and this is statistically significant elevation (P < 0.001).
As regard serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Serum ALT level was statistically significant higher in group I (HCV patients) (59.3 ± 45.57) as compared to group II (control group) (20.51 ± 5.59) (P < 0.01).
As regard serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Serum ALP level was statistically significant higher in group I (HCV patients) (90.22 ± 50.56) as compared to group II (control group) (78.17 ± 17.84) (P < 0.05).
As regard serum albumin, Serum albumin level was statistically significant higher in group II (control group) (5.19 ± 0.32) versus group I (HCV patients) (2.18 ± 0.24) (P < 0.01).
As regard serum total protein, Serum total protein level was statistically significant higher in group II (control group) (7.62 ± 0.95) versus (5.65 ± 0.39) in group I (HCV patients) (P < 0.001).
Conclusion:-
MBL play a key role in first-line host defence mechanism against certain infectious agents including HCV infection. However, it is also likely that the role of MBL extends beyond this restricted infection-related view in that it appears to be a key regulator of inflammation.