Impact of Serum Level of Vitamin B12 on Response to Combined Interferon and Ribavirin Therapy for Chronic HCV Infection

Introduction: Chronic HCV infection affects about 180 million individuals world-wide. Untreated, it leads to liver fibrosis, cirrhosis with increased risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma. Combination of pegylated interferon-ribavirin was considered the standard of care for chronic HCV infection. Previous studies showed that B12 inhibits the translation of the HCV polyprotein by interference with the internal ribosome entry site.Aim of Work: To evaluate any discriminative impact of serum vit.B 12 levels on response to interferon-ribavirin therapy in patients with chronic HCV.Methods: 89 patients with chronic HCV receiving inter-feron-ribavirin therapy. All were subjected to thorough clinical, laboratory evaluation, liver biopsy, measuring serum vit.B 12. Comparing serum level of vit.B12 between responder and non-responders to therapy.Results: Serum Vit.B12 was significantly higher in responders than non-responders. ALT and AST showed significantly lower levels in responders. No significant difference in fibrosis stage, degree of inflammation in liver histopathology or pretreatment viral load.Conclusion: Serum vitamin B 12 can independently predict response to combined interferon-ribavirin therapy in patient with chronic HCV infection.