Some Immunological, Hematological And Biochemical Parameters Characteristics Of The HCV Healthy Carrier

The present study was aimed to identify some immunological, hematological and biochemical characteristics of the HCV healthy carrier state. Thirteen Egyptian HCV seropositive males who fulfilled the criteria of the HCV healthy carrier state were selected from 560 asymptomatic individuals. Fifteen age matched healthy HCV seronegative were used as control. Blood samples were withdrawn from all participants three times at six month interval to provide Leishmania stained smears, citrated plasma and sera. The following parameters were estimated: plasma prothrombin time and concentration, serum ALT and AST, L.E cells, hyper segmented neutrophils, cryo globulins, total IgM, albumin, C3, CIq immune complex and a-fetoprotein. Atypical lymphocyte and hyper segmented neutrophil proportion were determined from microscopical examination of Leishmania stained blood smears. Data from the present study showed that the HCV healthy carriers had significantly higher ALT, AST, prothrombin time, atypical lymphocytes and hyper segmented neutrophil proportion, serum C3, immune complex, IgM and a-fetoprotein than healthy HCV seronegative controls whereas serum albumin content did not change. In conclusion, the present data may suggest a role of the HCV in down regulation of the prothrombin synthesis and up regulation of the C3 production and immune complex formation and serum a-fetoprotein independently from hepatic damage. It also shows that atypical lymphocytes and hyper segmented neutrophils were increased in response to HCV infection