Serum Zn Levels in Egyptian Patients with HCV Induced Chronic Liver Diseases: Evaluation and Clinical Significance

HCV infection is a major health problem worldwide, In Egypt the estimated prevalence is about 22%. As Zinc (Zn) is the second most prevalent trace element in the body, the current study aimed to evaluate serum Zn levels in patients with HCV induced chronic liver diseases and to study the relationship between these levels and clinical profiles, histopathological criteria and HCC characters of the studied cases. Sixty nine patients aged from (18 to 67) years were included in addition to 23 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects serving as a control, all were stratified into three groups, G 1 included 23 patients with biopsy proven CH. G 2 included 23 patients with cirrhosis. G 3 included 23 patients with HCC on basis of abdominal ultrasonography, triphasic spiral CT Scan and AFP. Group 4 included 23 healthy persons serving as control group. All subjects underwent routine investigations and serum Zn levels were analyzed on atomic absorption spectrophotometer, meanwhile cirrhotic subjects were assessed for severity of disease by Child-Pugh classification.

At presentation Serum zinc levels were significantly lower in chronic hepatitis group than control group on one hand and HCC group on the other hand (p < 0.001) and they were significantly decreased in Child class C patients than Child class A (p = 0.023). Significant positive correlation was found between serum Zn levels and age in cirrhotic group moreover, there was no significant correlation between serum Zn levels and any of laboratory parameters in the studied groups and fibrosis stages of chronic hepatitis group. Negative non significant correlation was detected between serum Zn levels and tumor multiplicity and BCLC in HCC group. From the present study we can conclude that serum zinc levels decreased significantly in chronic HCV infected patients and these levels decreased by increasing severity of liver disease according to Child classification. It is recommended to evaluate the role of zinc supplementation in treating clinical manifestation of liver cirrhosis and liver cell failure associated with HCV.