Activins and Follistatin in Chronic Hepatitis C and Its Treatment with Pegylated-Interferon-α Based Therapy
Table 1
Characteristics of published studies that investigated the diagnostic value of serum activin-A ± follistatin in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC).
Research group
Publication year
Study design
Number of patients
HCV genotype
Serum target markers
Main findings
Reference number
Patella et al.
2001
Retrospective
15 normal control 22 CHB 47 CHC
Not reported
Activin-A Follistatin
Significant increase in serum activin-A in viral hepatitis (B and C) but not serum follistatin No correlation between serum activin-A and follistatin with viral load and liver enzymes
30 normal control 30 Hepatitis C 30 CHC + SHF 30 CHC + HCC
Not reported
Activin-A
Serum activin-A increased significantly in the study groups compared to control and it was the highest in HCC Serum activin-A correlated positively with the Child-Pugh scoring in the study groups
No significant difference for serum activin-A in patients with activin CHC compared with control either in peripheral of portal vein samples There was no correlation between the cirrhosis stage and activin-A levels
Serum activin-A and activin-B significantly increased, while serum follistatin significantly decreased in CHC It was positive for activin-A and activin-B with viral load, APRI, IL-6, and TNF-α and negative with albumin No correlation was detected for follistatin
40 normal control 33 CHC + no treatment 19 CHC at week 4 of therapy 22 CHC at week 12 of therapy 19 CHC at week 24 of therapy 21 responder to therapy 11 nonresponder to therapy
Genotypes 1 and 4
Activin-A Activin-B Follistatin
Serum activin-A and activin-B significantly increased, while serum follistatin significantly decreased in CHC Activin-A and follistatin, but not activin-B, at weeks 4, 12, and 24 after treatment initiation were similar to normal control Activin-A correlated positively and significantly with the viral load and APRI
