Serum Activins and Follistatin during the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C Genotypes 1 and 4 and Their Correlations with Viral Load and Liver Enzymes: A Preliminary Report

Table 1

Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Principal inclusion criteria	Principle exclusion criteria
Patient age ≥18 years.	Patient age <18 years.
HCV RNA positive	Previous nonresponders/relapse
No concurrent infection with HBV or HIV	Solid organ transplant (renal, heart, or liver, etc.)
Dual therapy using peg-INF-𝛼 2a or 2b with ribavirin	Mono-or triple based therapy
No amendment/modification of treatment protocol	amendment/modification of treatment protocol
Treatment naïve patients	Autoimmune condition (e.g. type 1 DM, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.)
Compensated liver disease (e.g. no liver cirrhosis, failure, or cancer) and APRI ≤1.2	History or current thyroid disease
Acceptable haematological and biochemical indices	Uncontrolled type 2 DM and HTN
No or controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension	Concurrent chronic disease (renal failure, coronary heart disease, etc.)