In chronic hepatitis C (CHC), Toxoplasma gondii infection can lead to more severe diseases and is capable of changing the disease course. Former studies were concerning anti-T. gondii IgG/IgM seroprevalence in CHC patients regardless the antigenic proteins that are associated with active infection. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate association between prevalence of 36-KDa T. gondii antigen (TAg) and both CHC progression and liver and viral biochemical parameters. One hundred-twenty five CHC patients (65 with fibrosis and 60 with cirrhosis) and forty healthy controls constituted this study. Demographics and clinical data were collected. Both TAg and HCV-NS4 were identified using ELISA. In contrast to healthy controls (0%), both seropositivity (P = 0.043) and mean serum level (P = 0.025) of TAg were higher in cirrhotic patients (43.3 %; 1.2 ± 0.2 ng/mL) compared to fibrotic patients (26.2 %; 0.7 ± 0.1 ng/mL). T. gondii infection was significantly (P < 0.05) associated with liver and viral biochemical parameters including increased ALT and AST activities, total bilirubin and AFP levels and decreased albumin and platelets count levels. Interestingly, TAg positivity were associated with elevated HCV-NS4 level compared to negative TAg patients (212.5 ± 25.3 vs. 133.9 ± 17.4 µg/mL (P = 0.026); r = 0.559 (P < 0.0001)). In conclusion, this study highlighted association between T. gondii parasitemia and CHC progression since TAg was more prevalent among cirrhotic than fibrotic patients and healthy controls. The presence of TAg was associated with impaired liver functions and increased HCV-NS4 levels. Further studies are needed to define the mechanism of this association.
Keywords: 36-KDa T. gondii antigen; Chronic hepatitis C; Cirrhosis; Fibrosis; Progression; Toxoplasma gondii.
© Indian Society for Parasitology 2021.