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| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2008 |
Volume
: 19 | Issue : 5 | Page
: 775-780 |
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Effect of Antiviral Therapy on Hepatitis C Virus Related Glomerulopathy
Ghulam Abbas, Shahid Hussain, Tahir Shafi
Nephrology Department, Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Correspondence Address:
Ghulam Abbas
Nephrology Department, Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore, Punjab
Pakistan
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
PMID: 18711294 
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To determine the efficacy of antiviral therapy in hepatitis C virus associated glomerulopathy, we studied 30 patients with HCV-associated glomerulopathy at Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan from June 2004 to February 2007. Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) was the commonest kidney lesion, being reported in 25/30 (83%), followed by membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN) in 3/30 (10%) and mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis (MesGN) in 2/30 (7%). Cryoglobulinaemia was positive in 8/20 (40%) cases. Most common HCV genotype was 3a. All the patients received interferon alpha combined with ribavirin therapy for 6-12 months based on viral genotypes and doses were adjusted according to renal function. Anti-viral response was achieved in the form of aviremia at completion of 6 months treatment in 8/30 (26.6%), decreased transaminases levels from a mean of 96.4 ± 72.2 to 60.1 ± 44.3 IU/L, p= 0.005, 24-hour proteinuria decreased significantly from a mean of 4.8 g to 1.20 g, p= 0.001, and complement C3 and C4 concentrations returned to normal in those subjects who responded to treatment. The rate of relapse was 50%. We conclude that though the overall antiviral response of HCV was not high, there was a significant reduction in proteinuria suggesting indirectly an improvement in renal pathology. Further studies with large number of patients with follow-up renal biopsies are warranted. |
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