RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEPATIC IRON DEPOSITS AND RESPONSE TO INTERFERONIN CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C

Objectives: The response to interferon in chronic hepatitis C is belie ved to be affected by hepatic iron content, We histopathologically exa mined liver biopsy specimens from patients with chronic hepatitis C to determine whether the presence or absence of hepatic iron deposits co rrelated with the response to interferon, Methods: Sixty-three patient s with hepatitis C treated with interferon-alpha were examined, Liver biopsy specimens obtained just before treatment were sliced and staine d with Perls' Prussian blue, Twenty patients had complete responses, 2 4 patients had transient responses, and 19 patients had no response, R esults: Iron deposits stained by Prussian blue were seen in hepatocyte s, sinusoidal cells, and portal mesenchymal cells, The degree of hepat ocytic and sinusoidal iron deposits did not correlate with the respons e to interferon, However, the degree of portal iron deposits did corre late with hepatic inflammation activity (tau = 0.55, p < 0.001) and th e severity of liver fibrosis (tau = 0.60, p < 0.001), and it correlate d negatively to the response to interferon (tau = -0.49, p < 0.001), C onclusions: The results suggest that portal iron deposits are a factor in the response to interferon, The presence of portal iron deposits s eems to be related to a poor response.