Efficacy of baseline Serum 25 OH Vitamin D during enhanced Systemic inflammation in predicting response to antiviral therapy for Egyptian Patients with HCV

Backgrounds A profound systemic inflammation is found in patients with chronic active HCV which could be ameliorated after antiviral therapy. Vitamin D is an important immune modulator and there is a suggested association between vitamin D and SVR. Aims Investigation of the effect of systemic inflammation on baseline serum 25 OH vitamin D when used as a predictor of SVR in a cohort of HCV Egyptian patients during combined antiviral therapy. Methods A- 378 patients were selected; 192 patients achieved SVR defined as responders group and the other is treatment failure group which included 186 patients B- Laboratory analysis: Included routine preliminary investigations and specific investigations as quantitative detection of serum 25(OH) D using Enzyme Immuno Assay (EIA) and CRP. Results 25(OH)D was significantly higher in the treatment failure group than the responders group and both groups showed normal level of the enzyme. In vitamin D insufficiency,CRP was significantly higher than in patients with normal level (16.2 ± 4.5 Vs. 9.87 ± 2.8 mg/L & P<0.001) Conclusion Serum level of 25 OH vitamin D is related to degree of hepatic steatosis but can not be used to predict SVR in case of enhanced systemic inflammatory response in HCV and it is advised to check for CRP before judging vitamin D status which if increased will make the detection of vitamin D unreliable.