Decreased mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid and increased oxidative damage in chronic hepatitis C

Table 1 Clinical features of normal controls and hepatitis C virus-infected patients (mean ± SD)

	Normal (n = 47)	HCV infection (n = 132)	P value
Age (yr)	50.51 ± 6.15	51.65 ± 5.50	0.24
Gender (male/female)	26/21	71/61	0.99
Smoking (n)	9	28	0.93
Hypertension (n)	1	30	< 0.01
Hyperlipidemia (n)	4	21	0.31
DM (n)	0	35	< 0.01
WBC (103/mL)	5.82 ± 1.48	5.75 ± 1.57	0.85
Hb (g/dL)	13.67 ± 1.77	14.49 ± 1.71	0.75
Platelet (103/mL)	251.24 ± 63.42	170.40 ± 58.00	< 0.01
AST (IU/L)	23.19 ± 5.47	108.77 ± 60.73	< 0.001
ALT (IU/L)	23.15 ± 9.45	168.69 ± 93.12	< 0.001
mtDNA	247.93 ± 135.46	173.49 ± 147.40	< 0.01
mtDNA∆CT	0.67 ± 0.48	2.92 ± 2.50	< 0.01

HCV: Hepatitis C virus; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate transaminase; DM: Diabetes mellitus; Hb: Hemoglobin; WBC: White blood cell; mtDNA: Mitochondrial DNA.

Table 2 Correlation between mitochondrial DNA and clinical findings in hepatitis C virus-infected patients

Characteristics	Correlation statistics
	r	P value
Age (yr)	-0.07	0.40
Laboratory data
AST (IU/L)	-0.17	< 0.05
ALT (IU/L)	-0.07	0.38
Hb (g/dL)	0.14	0.09
Platelet count (103/mL)	0.03	0.71
WBC count (103/mL)	0.08	0.34
HCV RNA	-0.10	0.47
Liver histology
Inflammatory activity	-0.06	0.45
Fibrosis staging	0.04	0.59

HCV: Hepatitis C virus; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate transaminase; Hb: Hemoglobin; WBC: White blood cell.

Table 3 Correlation between mitochondria DNA oxidative index and clinical findings in hepatitis C virus-infected patients

Characteristics	Correlation statistics
	r	P value
Age (yr)	0.16	0.06
Laboratory data
AST (IU/L)	0.15	0.08
ALT (IU/L)	0.09	0.25
Hb (g/dL)	-0.06	0.47
Platelet count (103/mL)	-0.22	< 0.01
WBC count (103/mL)	-0.13	0.13
HCV RNA	0.36	< 0.01
Liver histology
Inflammatory activity	0.20	0.02
Fibrosis staging	0.05	0.61

HCV: Hepatitis C virus; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate transaminase; Hb: Hemoglobin; WBC: White blood cell.