Helal T.E.A.Radwan N.A.Mahmoud H.A.Zaki A.M.E.Ahmed N.S.Wahib A.A.A.Aref A.M.Department of PathologyFaculty of MedicineAin Shams UniversityRamses Street- New Faculty Bldg. -5th floorP.O. # 11566CairoEgypt; Department of Internal MedicineFaculty of MedicineAl-Azhar UniversityCairoEgypt; Faculty of BiotechnologyOctober University for Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA)GizaEgypt2020-01-092020-01-09201916806905https://doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v19i1.14PubMedID31148968https://t.ly/BX9w7ScopusBackground: Interferon therapy is used as a line of treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) in several areas of the world including Egypt. Objective: Our aim was to investigate the value of hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) in predicting response of patients with chronic HCV, genotype 4 to pegylated interferon (PEGIFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) therapy. Methods: Pre-treatment liver biopsies obtained from 110 patients with chronic HCV, genotype 4 were examined immunohistochemically for HPCs using cytokeratin19. The mean number of HPCs as ductular reaction (DR) and as isolated progenitor cells (IPCs) was counted in each case. The patients were classified into: those with sustained virological response (SVR) and those who did not achieve SVR. The results were compared between the two groups. Also, the relationships between HPCs and other clinico-pathologic variables were estimated using multivariate analysis. Results: The mean number of HPCs was the only independent predictor of therapeutic response, being significantly higher in non-responders (P = 0 for DR and P = 0.03 for IPCs). On the other hand, fibrosis stage and steatosis were the only independent factors which showed a significant direct association with the mean number of HPCs in the form of DR and IPCs (P = 0 for each). Conclusion: The number of HPCs provides prognostic information in chronic HCV since it is significantly associated with stage of fibrosis. More importantly, it can be used as a marker to predict response of patients with chronic HCV to PEGIFN plus RBV therapy. � 2019 Helal et al. Licensee African Health Sciences.EnglishChronic hepatitis cGenotype 4Hepatic progenitor cellsResponse to therapycytokeratin 19peginterferon alpha2a plus ribavirinalpha interferonantivirus agentribavirinadultagedArticlechronic hepatitis Cclinical protocolcontrolled studycorrelation coefficientdemographydisease activitydisease coursefatty liverfemalehepatic progenitor cellHepatitis C virus genotype 4humanhuman tissueimmunohistochemistryliver biopsyliver fibrosismajor clinical studymalemiddle agedoutcome assessmentpredictionprognosisrandomized controlled trialrank sum testretrospective studyyoung adultbiopsychronic hepatitis Ccombination drug therapydrug effectEgyptgenotypeHepacivirusisolation and purificationliverpathologyvirologyAdultAntiviral AgentsBiopsyDrug Therapy, CombinationEgyptFemaleGenotypeHepacivirusHepatitis C, ChronicHumansInterferon-alphaLiverMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesRibavirinYoung AdultArticlehttps://doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v19i1.14PubMedID31148968