Assessment of Serum Interleukin 8 in Hepatitis C-related Cirrhosis with Itching

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University

2 Department of Endemic and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University

Abstract

Background: Interleukin-8 (IL-8) has a role in the pathophysiology of pruritus. However, there hasn't been much research into the link between IL-8 and cirrhosis caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and itching. The goal of this study was to investigate the amount of IL-8 in patients with itching caused by post-HCV liver cirrhosis. Patients and Methods: The study included 60 patients with HCV-related cirrhosis of varying severity according to the Child-Pugh classification and 30 healthy control subjects who were matching the study group for age and sex. Data were gathered during the history, clinical examination, laboratory investigations, abdominal ultrasonography, and outcome measures (Child-Pugh classification, 5-D pruritus scale, and IL-8 assessment by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). Results: Child C patients had a substantially higher pruritus score than Child A and B patients (10.72±2.83 versus 8.35±3.48 and 8.77±2.98, respectively) (p < 0.05). Cirrhotic patients had a considerably higher mean level of IL-8 than healthy controls (150.8±40.9 versus 35.1±5.4, respectively) (p < 0.0001). The mean values of IL-8 in Child C patients were substantially higher than in Child B and Child A patients (181.6±13.8 versus 156.3±17.4 and 84.3±29.1, respectively) (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Child C patients had considerably greater pruritus scores and IL-8 levels than Child A and B patients. Cirrhotic individuals had significantly greater mean levels of IL-8 than healthy controls. In the investigated patients, there was a strong positive correlation between IL-8 levels and pruritus scores.
 

Keywords

Main Subjects

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics