Bcl-2 and p53 expression in hepatic tissues of Egyptian patients with Chronic Hepatitis C

Objective: To investigate B-cell-lymphoma-2 and tumour protein p53 expression in hepatic tissues of human cases of Chronic Hepatitis C. Methods: The case-control study was conducted from December 2011 to February 2014 at the out-patient department of Gastroenterology Surgical Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt, and comprised healthy individuals and treatment-naive chronic hepatitis C patients who had undergone liver biopsy. Liver biopsy was taken from patients prior to antiviral therapy or any other anti-fibrotic therapy. Serum marker levels were investigated on the day of biopsy or within 5 days after it. Blood platelet count was also investigated using standard methods. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections were stained with haematoxylin and eosin and for apoptosis detection, B-cell-lymphoma-2 and tumour protein p53 expression in tissue was investigated through immunohistochemistry. Slides were labelled with patient identification numbers and then reviewed and graded blindly by a senior pathologist. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis. Results: Of the 140 subjects in the study, 120(85.7%) were patients with a mean age of 39+/-8.7 years (range: 11-64 years) and 20(14.3%) were healthy controls with a mean age of 38.6+/-7.4 years (range: 14-66 years). The patients had higher body mass index but the difference was not significant (p>0.05), while the difference in the levels of alanine transaminase, aspartate aminotransferase, alpha fetoprotein and platelet count was significant (p<0.05 each). The highest expression of B-cell-lymphoma-2 was detected in chronic hepatitis C stage, while the highest expression of p53 was detected in hepatocellular carcinoma stage. Conclusion: The expression of both B-cell-lymphoma-2 and tumour protein p53 might play diagnostic role during the different stages of the disease.