ascorbic-acid and Hepatitis-C

An imbalance between oxidative stress and antioxidative defence mediates a variety of diseases pathogenesis. The present study aims to assess the possible outcome of supplementation of oral vitamin-C (VC), an antioxidant, in Viral Hepatitis C (HCV) treatment as an adjuvant therapy. 200 HCV-patients were selected, 100 were given Vitamin-C (1000 mg/day) along with anti HCV treatment (sofosbuvir plus daclatasvir) while the other 100 took only anti-HCV treatment for 4weeks. The serum ascorbic acid (Vitamin-C) levels and functions of the liver were tested before and after the VC supplementation. HCV patients with relatively low serum ascorbic acid showed significant improvement after the intake of vitamin C. After 4 weeks of treatment, AST, ALP, albumin, and total, direct and indirect bilirubin were improved significantly in the VC group; whereas only ALT and indirect bilirubin were improved in both groups when associated with the control subjects. Comparing the two treatment groups at 4weeks; more effective and significant improvement was observed in ALT (p<0.01), AST (p<0.001), direct (p<0.01) and indirect bilirubin (p<0.001), total proteins (p<0.001) and albumin (p<0.05) in patients with VC supplementation on anti-viral treatment compared to only anti-viral treatment group. Thus, VC supplementation improves the antiviral therapy outcome by bestowing a beneficial effect in minimizing liver damage in HCV cases.

Topics: Albumins; Antioxidants; Antiviral Agents; Ascorbic Acid; Bilirubin; Dietary Supplements; Drug Therapy, Combination; Hepacivirus; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis C, Chronic; Humans; Treatment Outcome; Vitamins

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common indication for liver transplantation, but HCV recurrence is frequent after 1 year and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Oxidative stress (OxS) is involved in the pathogenesis of HCV, but little is known about its presence prior to disease recurrence.. To determine if at 6 months HCV-positive liver recipients (HCV-OLT) without recurrence were oxidatively stressed.. 33 HCV-OLTs, 12 controls, and 39 HCV-positive nontransplant patients (HCV-NTs). OxS was assessed by using commercial kits to measure liver lipid peroxidation (LPO) and antioxidant potential (AOP). Plasma vitamin E, retinol (HPLC), and vitamin C (spectrophotometry) were assessed. We collected Anthropometry and 3-day food records. We performed analysis by the Kruskal-Wallis test expressing data as mean values +/- standard errors of the mean.. Waist-hip ratio was higher in both HCV-OLTs and HCV-NTs compared to the controls. HCV-OLTs showed higher hepatic LPO (mumol malondialdehyde/g tissue) versus controls (1.4 +/- 0.20 vs 0.54 +/- 0.10; P = .010) and compared to HCV-NTs (0.98 +/- 0.17; P = .030). No significant differences were found among the groups regarding hepatic AOP. However, lower plasma AOP (micromols UEA) were observed in HCV-OLTs (0.07 +/- 0.008) versus controls (0.17 +/- .040; P = .021) or HCV-NTs (0.08 +/- 0.009; P = .015) versus controls. Plasma gamma-tocopherol was higher in HCV-OLTs and HCV-NTs compared to controls (P = .001). We observed lower vitamin A intake in HCV-OLTs compared with the other two groups (P = .001).. HCV-OLTs without disease recurrence are oxidatively stressed compared with control and HCV-NTs. Future research is needed to determine the impact of this increased oxidative stress on HCV disease recurrence.

Topics: Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; Body Height; Body Mass Index; Body Weight; Diabetes Complications; Diabetes Mellitus; Female; Hepatitis C; Humans; Lipid Peroxides; Liver Transplantation; Male; Middle Aged; Oxidative Stress; Recurrence; Vitamin A; Vitamin E; Waist-Hip Ratio

To evaluate the possible relationship between aminotransferases levels and markers of oxidative stress in chronic hepatitis C patients.. Patients without treatment for hepatitis were divided in to group I (15-39 U/L); group II (41-76 U/L) and group III (81-311 U/L) of activity alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Blood markers of oxidative stress [catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), thiobarbituric acid-reactive species (TBARS), nonprotein and protein thiol (NP-SH and P-SH) groups and vitamin C] were determined.. P-SH and NP-SH levels, TBARS, GPx and CAT were not different between groups. Vitamin C was significantly decreased in groups II (P=0.03) and III (P=0.001) when compared with group I and correlated negatively with aspartate aminotransferase (AST; r=-0.29, P=0.042).. Vitamin C levels were negatively associated with AST, suggesting that vitamin C could be an additional indicator of hepatitis C severity.

Topics: Adult; Analysis of Variance; Ascorbic Acid; Aspartate Aminotransferases; Biomarkers; Catalase; Female; Glutathione Peroxidase; Hepatitis C; Humans; Male; Oxidative Stress; Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances

Topics: Ascorbic Acid; Brazil; Doping in Sports; Hepatitis C; Humans; Injections, Intravenous; Needle Sharing; Risk Factors; Soccer

Porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT), the most common form of porphyria, is manifested as skin photosensitivity caused by excess hepatic production of uroporphyrin and heptacarboxylporphyrin. In experimental animal models, ascorbic acid modulates chemically induced uroporphyrin accumulation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ascorbic acid is decreased in the plasma of patients with PCT. Plasma was obtained after an overnight fast from 21 PCT patients, 16 of whom were infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), and from a separate group of 9 patients with HCV infection but not PCT. Thirteen PCT patients were studied when they had active disease and 8 after treatment-induced remission. Plasma ascorbic acid was low (<23 micromol/L) in 11 (85%) of the 13 untreated PCT patients and deficient (<11 micromol/L) in 8 (62%). Two patients with normal ascorbic acid levels (45 and 62 micrommol/L) had consumed multivitamins. In 2 patients with deficient ascorbic acid, plasma levels returned to normal after phlebotomy treatment. Of the 8 patients studied during remission, 4 had normal ascorbic acid values and 4 were deficient (5 to 8 micromol/L). Plasma ascorbic acid values were normal for all patients who had HCV but no PCT. These data suggest that plasma ascorbic acid concentrations are commonly low in PCT, but this decrease is unrelated to HCV infection. Ascorbic acid deficiency may be one of the factors that contributes to the pathogenesis of PCT.

Topics: Adult; Alanine Transaminase; Ascorbic Acid; Ascorbic Acid Deficiency; Aspartate Aminotransferases; Female; Ferritins; Hepatitis C; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Pilot Projects; Porphyria Cutanea Tarda; Transferrin

The treatment of two cases of hepatitis C using herbal medicine and nutritional supplements is presented. The selection of medicinals was based upon both biomedical findings and traditional Chinese medical diagnosis. The text describes the course of each patient's illness documented both subjectively and objectively using blood values and traditional Chinese medicine analysis as parameters. Explanation and/or citations are given for each medicinal used. Both patients improved during the course of treatment; subjective signs and symptoms (especially fatigue) as well as liver enzyme levels demonstrated improvement.

Topics: Ascorbic Acid; Diagnosis, Differential; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Female; Folic Acid; Hepatitis C; Humans; Male; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Middle Aged; Vitamin B 12