DOWN REGULATION OF CLASSICAL MONOCYTES SUBSET IN PATIENTS WITH HCV RELATED LIVER FIBROSIS.

Chronic liver disease is a worldwide common pathology characterized by inflammatory and fibrotic processes that may lead to progressive evolution from chronic hepatitis to cirrhosis. Peripheral blood monocytes may play an important role in the pathogenesis and resolution of liver fibrosis. These cells may offer new approaches for better understanding the pathogenesisof liver fibrosis. This work defined the proportion of circulating classical monocyte subset with hematopoietic origin in peripheral blood to establish the possible potential role of this subset as non-invasive biomarker of liver fibrosis in patients with HCV related chronic liver disease. Forty patients with HCV induced chronic liver disease were classified according to the stage of liver fibrosis after METAVIR score into 4 groups, patients with stages F1, F2, F3 & F4 liver fibrosis (10 patients each) and 10 healthy subjects served as normal controls. Flowcytometric analysis for immunophenotypic characterization for identification of levels of circulating peripheral blood classical monocytes subset in different groups studied was carried out using monoclonal antibodies anti-CD45, anti-CD 14 and anti-CD 16.

THE RESULTS: data demonstrated a significant down regulation (p< 0.01) in the proportion of classical monocytes subset (CD45+ve, CD 14+ve and CD 16-ve) in patients with chronic hepatitis C related liver disease compared to healthy subjects. Data also demonstrate that down regulation of the expression of classical monocyte subset paralleled the worsening severity of liver disease and the progression of liver fibrosis.