Clinico-pathological significance of hepatitis C virus core antigen levels in chronic infection

Hepatitis C virus core antigen (HCVcoreAg) may be measured in serum with a sensitive, recently validated assay. Beyond its value as a marker of viral infection, there are little data on its relation with clinical, histological, and virological parameters. In this study, the significance of HCVcoreAg levels was studied in a prospective cohort of 114 patients with chronic hepatitis C. HCVcoreAg was measured by a commercial chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. Clinical and virological data included quantitative HCV-RNA, HCV genotype, ALT, GGT, IL28B rs12979860 polymorphism as well as liver histology parameters. HCVcoreAg levels were correlated significantly with HCV-RNA (r=0.56; P<0.0001) but also with ALT levels (r=0.258; P<0.01) and liver necroinflammatory activity (r=0.205; P