Early Increased Ficolin-2 Concentrations are Associated with Severity of Liver Inflammation and Efficacy of anti-Viral Therapy in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients

Ficolin-2 is a kind of human serum complement lectin with a structure similar to mannan-binding lectin (MBL), and it has been implicated in innate immunity. Recent studies have shown that complement pathway activation may contribute to hepatitis. However, the relationship between ficolin-2 and viral hepatitis remains largely elusive. The aim of this study was to determine the dynamics of ficolin-2 in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Forty nine patients who had not yet received therapy [24 patients with abnormal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels (>40 U/L) and 25 patients with normal ALT levels (<= 40 U/L)], 28 patients with hepatitis C who received therapy for 2 weeks and 16 patients received therapy for a full month or longer were included in the study. A sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the ficolin-2 concentrations in all serum samples of patients and 42 healthy donors. We found the concentrations of ficolin-2 were significantly higher in chronic hepatitis C patients with abnormal ALT values than in chronic hepatitis C patients with normal ALT values and healthy controls. Ficolin-2 concentrations in chronic hepatitis C patients with abnormal ALT values were positively correlated with ALT levels (*P < 0.05). After therapy, the concentrations of ficolin-2 decreased and accompany with ALT and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA levels. Then, we found ficolin-2 concentrations in rapid viral response (RVR) group decreased significantly (*P < 0.05), while in non-RVR group, ficolin-2 decreased slightly (P > 0.05). Our findings suggest that early increased ficolin-2 is highly correlated with hepatic inflammation and rapid viral response.