Thymidine phosphorylase expression in patients with chronic viral hepatitis
Mimidis, K.; Giatromanolaki, A.; Sivridis, E.; Papadopoulos, V.; Ritis, K.; Kartalis, G.
Romanian Journal of Gastroenterology 14(1): 27-31
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 1221-4167 PMID: 15800690 Document Number: 594072
The role of thymidine phosphorylase (TP), an angiogenic factor, in chronic viral hepatitis is unclear. In the present study we investigated TP expression in chronic viral hepatitis due to hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Fifty-eight patients suffering from chronic viral hepatitis and 13 cirrhotic patients due to either HBV or HCV were studied. TP expression was investigated using a standard immunohistochemical technique and the specific antibody P-GF.44C. The pattern of TP staining was predominantly nuclear, or mixed nuclear/cytoplasmic, but no significant difference in such expression was noted between chronic hepatitis B and C: nuclear immunostaining, t=0.0616, p=0.9511; cytoplasmic immunostaining, t=0.5188, p=0.6060. There was, however, a marked difference in TP expression between patients with chronic hepatitis B/C and cirrhosis. Notably, this finding applied to both nuclear (p=0.00754, p=0.0143, respectively) and cytoplasmic (p=0.000091, p=0.000031, respectively) expression. These observations indicate that TP expression, although linked to liver cirrhosis, may not be virus-related.