Pathogenic Role of Iron Deposition in Reticuloendothelial Cells during the Development of Chronic Hepatitis C

Table 1

Clinical characteristics of patients.

Group	None (𝑛=141)	HC (𝑛=107)	Mix (𝑛=101)	REC (𝑛=24)	ANOVA
Age	54.5 ± 12.3	55.9 ± 11.0	56.7 ± 11.0	59.1 ± 12.1	0.216
Gender (male/female)	37/104	52/55	68/33	14/10	<0.0000001*
BMI (kg/m^2)	22.7 ± 4.0	22.8 ± 3.5	23.9 ± 3.4	23.7 ± 3.6	0.037
Diabetes (yes/no)	10/131	10/97	9/92	2/22	0.925*
Genotype (1a/lb/2a/2b/3a)	2/61/32/11/1	1/67/11/4/0	2/50/11/11/0	0/12/3/2/0	0.185*
Serogroup (G1/G2)	25/9	18/6	21/6	5/2	0.985*
HCV-RNA (logIU/mL)	5.9 ± 0.8	6.1 ± 0.8	6.0 ± 0.8	6.1 ± 0.8	0.057
AST (IU/L)	51.3 ± 36.5	43.9 ± 28.9	72.6 ± 39.1^cg	81.9 ± 62.0^bf	<0.0000001
ALT (IU/L)	59.6 ± 53.0	53.7 ± 35.2	101.2 ± 66.9^dg	94.7 ± 75.5^ae	<0.0000001
Triglyceride (mg/dL)	103.2 ± 86.8	100.9 ± 56.6	99.2 ± 42.0	103.5 ± 34.4	0.984
IRI (μU/mL)	10.7 ± 11.7	8.3 ± 3.7	11.2 ± 5.7	11.5 ± 6.0	0.341
FPG (mg/dL)	99.9 ± 25.6	98.7 ± 13.4	102.6 ± 17.7	104.2 ± 26.0	0.468
HOMA-R	3.4 ± 6.3	2.1 ± 1.1	2.8 ± 1.4	3.0 ± 1.8	0.424
Ferritin (ng/mL)	93.9 ± 85.1	191.5 ± 109.1^b	425.1 ± 300.9^dgh	215.4 ± 155.6^a	<0.0000001
Stage (0/1/2/3/4)	1/82/42/15/1	2/60/36/9/0	1/29/41/21/9	0/3/11/5/5	<0.0000001
Grade (0/1/2/3)	4/79/53/5	2/67/31/7	0/31/55/15	0/2/15/7	<0.0000001
HC iron score (1/2/3/4)	—	63/32/10/2	30/42/21/8	—	—
REC iron score (1/2)	—	—	2.2	3.8	—
Steatosis (0/1/2/3)	91/28/19/3	67/26/13/1	39/36/19/7	7/10/4/3	<0.0005

^a𝑃<0.05, ^b𝑃<0.005, ^c𝑃<0.0001, ^d𝑃<0.0000001 versus None; ^e𝑃<0.01, ^f𝑃<0.0001, ^g𝑃<0.0000001 versus HC; and ^h𝑃<0.00005 versus REC (Bonferroni test). *Chi-squared test.
None: no stainable iron, HC: hepatocytes, Mix: mixed hepatocytes/reticuloendothelial cells, REC: reticuloendothelial cells, BMI: body mass index, AST: aspartate aminotransferase, ALT: alanine aminotransferase, IRI: immunoreactive insulin, FPG: fasting plasma glucose, and HOMA-R: homeostasis model assessment ratio.