Background: Patients with acute and chronic hepatitis B virus infection have elevated serum levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor. This study examined patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection to determine whether serum soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels were elevated and whether the degree of these elevations in serum levels correlated with histologic severity of hepatitis-related liver injury.
Methods: Percutaneous liver biopsies were performed on 123 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Serum levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor in these 123 patients were measured by means of specific enzyme-linked immunoassay and were compared with levels in 174 subjects in a hepatitis-free control group.
Results: Soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels were significantly higher in the patients with hepatitis C than in subjects in a control group (p < 0.0001). A progressive and significant increase occurred in soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels with increasing severity of liver injury (p < 0.001). The highest levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor occurred in patients who had hepatocellular cancer.
Conclusions: Soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels correlate with the histologic severity of liver damage in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection and may be useful as a marker in patients at high risk of getting hepatocellular cancer.