Molecular Medicine

Table 2 Correlations between clinical findings and hepcidin mRNA expression levels in liver of patients with various liver conditions (n = 132)

From: Hepcidin Expression in the Liver: Relatively Low Level in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C

Characteristic	Hepcidin mRNA level			Statistics
Characteristic	n	Mean ± SD	Median	r	P
Age, y				0.003	0.9764
Sex					0.0012^a
Male	73	10,900 ± 13,100	6590
Female	59	5820 ± 10,700	2600
Virus infection
Male
HCV⁺	33	9120 ± 7660	6650
HBV⁺	23	11,800 ± 16,100	2600
HCV⁻HBV⁻					0.0611^b
Non-iron overload	9	7750 ± 5320	6590
Iron overload	8	19,600 ± 23,000	15,800
Female
HCV⁺	23	5890 ± 7900	3690
HBV⁺	11	3000 ± 2190	2360
HCV⁻HBV⁻					0.0724^b
Non-iron overload	15	1300 ± 1030	814.5
Iron overload	10	15,500 ± 20,800	6485
Total
HCV⁺	56	7790 ± 7850	5730
HBV⁺	34	8950 ± 13,900	3290
HCV⁻HBV⁻					0.7733^b
Non-iron overload	24	3720 ± 4550	1650
Iron overload	18	17,300 ± 21,200	6770
ALT, IU/L				0.281	0.0013
AST, IU/L				0.249	0.0043
Serum albumin, g/dL				−0.036	0.7844
Bilirubin, mg/dL				0.239	0.0065
Hyaluronic acid, ng/mL				0.145	0.0968
RBC, ×10⁴/mm³				0.171	0.0510
Hemoglobin, g/L				0.235	0.0073
Hematocrit, %				0.160	0.0675
Platelets, × 10⁴/mm³				−0.174	0.0465
Serum iron, µg/dL				0.283	0.0012
Transferrin saturation, %				0.360	<0.0001
Serum ferritin, ng/mL				0.832	<0.0001
Liver histology
Inflammatory activity, 0/1/2/3^c				0.073	0.4011
Fibrosis staging, 0/1/2/3/4^d				0.031	0.7209
TIS^e				0.457	<0.0001

ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, apsartate aminotransferase; RBC, red blood cell count. Statistics are Spearman rank correlation test unless otherwise noted. ^aWilcoxon rank-sum test. ^bKruskal-Wallis test. ^cIntensity of necroinflammatory lesions: 0, no histological activity; 1, mild activity; 2, moderate activity; 3, severe activity. ^d0, no fibrosis; 1, portal fibrosis without septa; 2, portal fibrosis with few septa; 3, numerous septa without cirrhosis; 4, cirrhosis. ^eTotal iron score proposed by Deugnier et al. (23).

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ISSN: 1528-3658

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