Betatrophin expression in chronic hepatitis C patients: Does Contribute to Liver Injury-linked Metabolic Syndrome and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Development?

Abstract

The epidemiologic evidence has been proved that chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection may significantly contribute to the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Moreover, the prevalence of individuals with CHC infection in Indonesia increased dramatically during the last decade. Importantly, there is no preliminary data, whether specific liver derived-hormone, betatrophin/ANGPTL-8/ can contribute to the early stage of HCC caused by HCV infection. The goal of this study was to provide baseline data of betatrophin profile in subjects with CHC. Nineteen healthy control and fourteen CHC patients were considered as the samples, and circulating betatrophin was measured by ELISA. Interestingly, the higher level of betatrophin was observed in an individual with CHC compared to placebo. Furthermore, the linear data was also found that the classical marker of liver injury, ALT significantly increased in the same patients. Based on this critical data, it is suggested that betatrophin may contribute to the early stages of HCC in connection to the gradual changes of HCV DNA and ALT level. Even though this finding could be a hallmark for the essential characteristic of betatrophin in CHC subjects progress to HCC, however, the future study with long-term monitoring in clinical observation of CHC patients is compulsory.