Are serum GRP78 levels significant in chronic hepatitis C patients? A case-control study

Arzu Altunçekiç Yıldırım; Selma Cırrık; Yeliz Çetinkol; Mustafa Kerem Çalgın; Tevfik Noyan

doi:10.28982/josam.595537

Authors

Arzu Altunçekiç Yıldırım https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1141-9838
Selma Cırrık https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8474-0185
Yeliz Çetinkol https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4940-4498
Mustafa Kerem Çalgın https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4236-6177
Tevfik Noyan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7733-0177

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.28982/josam.595537

Keywords:

Glucose-regulated protein 78, Hepatitis C infection, Endoplasmic reticulum stress

Abstract

Aims: Glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP-78) is one of the basic markers of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in tissues. It is known that ER stress develops in the livers of patients infected with hepatitis C. In this study, the aim was to assess serum GRP78 levels which have not previously been investigated as a stress marker in chronic hepatitis C patients (CHC).

Methods: This case control study includes patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection in our Infectious Diseases clinic (n=60) and a healthy control group without any additional chronic disease (n=60). Serum GRP78 levels were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), then correlation analysis was performed for serum GRP78 levels with alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and HCV-RNA levels.

Results: A significant positive correlation was observed between HCV-RNA, ALT and AST levels in CHC patients (P<0.001 and P=0.008, respectively). Serum GRP78 was identified at similar levels in both the control and HCV subgroups. While a significant positive correlation was identified between serum GRP78 and AST levels (P=0.046), no significant correlation was detected for serum ALT levels.

Conclusion: Though liver injury induced by HCV is shown to cause ER stress, our results showed there was no significant increase in serum GRP78 levels during chronic HCV infection.

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