Estimate the Levels of Copper in Serum Samples of Hepatitis C Patients at Different Stages after Interferon-α Therapy

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the copper (Cu) levels in serum samples of patients infected by hepatitis C virus (HCV) at different stages and examined the changes in its content before and after interferon α (IFN-α) therapy with related to healthy subjects. The 199 HCV patients of both genders at different stages including (acute, fibrosis and cirrhosis) were enrolled in this study, who have completed IFN-α treatment and were followed for at least 1 year after the end the therapy. We have also evaluated the changes in biochemical parameters before and after treatment. Blood samples were collected from patients before and after treatment of IFN-α therapy. For comparative purposes healthy subjects of same age group (30-50) were also selected. The trace level of Cu in serum samples was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry after preconcentration by dual-cloud point extraction method. It was observed that after INF-α treatment the level of Cu in serum samples of HCV patients were reduced in decreasing order such as acute> fibrosis> cirrhosis.