Effects of HCV-RNA positivity on serum IL-1 beta levels in chronic hemodialysis patients

Abstract

Purpose: Hepatitis C virüs (HCV) positivity and inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin(IL)-} beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and IL-6 secreted by activated macrophages are known to be important morbidity factors in chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients. in this preliminary stııdy, we aimed to compare serum IL-1 beta levels of 20 HCV-RNA-positive and 23 HCV-RNA-negative chronic HD patients. Methods: HCV-RNA-positivity and serum IL-1 beta levels were studied using nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and ELISA methods, respectively. Results: We could detect no statistically signifıcant difference between serum IL-1 beta levels in HCV-RNA-positive and HCV-RNA-negative groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the fırst study to examine the relationship between serum IL-1 beta level and HCV infection in HD patients. We had expected the level of IL-1 beta to be higher in HCV-RNA-positive group, and believe that the blood-dialyzer interaction strongly activated mononuclear cells, thus generating elevated levels of IL-1 beta in both groups. This could explain why HCV infection apparently did not affect serum IL-1 beta levels.