Abstract

Objective: The aim of our study is to determine the role of oxidative stress biomarkers in hepatic damage in hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients.

Materials and Methods: Forty-eight patients with chronic hepatitis B, 15 patients with chronic hepatitis C and 30 healthy individuals as a control group were included in this study. Serum alanine-aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels, urine oxidative stress biomarkers such as malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, superoxide dismutase (SOD-1) and catalase (CAT) activities were measured.

Results: Urine MDA levels increased in patients with HBV and HCV compared to the control group. It was higher in HCV patients than HBV patients (p<0.001). Besides, while CAT and SOD-1 activities were decreased in the urine of patients with HCV, they increased in the urine of patients with HBV compared to controls (p<0.05). Furthermore, urine CAT ve SOD-1 activities in patients with HBV were statistically significantly higher than those of the HCV patients (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Increase in urine MDA levels in hepatitis forms may be valuable in monitoring in viral hepatitis cases. Also, we thought that insufficiency of antioxidant barrier in patients with HCV may cause oxidative damage, so antioxidant treatment may useful and should be added to the combined therapy for these patients.