Correlation of serum aminotransferases with HCV RNA levels and histological findings in patients with chronic hepatitis C: the role of serum aspartate transaminase in the evaluation of disease progression

Objectives To investigate whether HCV RNA levels can be considered to be predictors of hepatocellular injury in patients with chronic hepatitis C, and whether aminotransferase levels are markers of liver damage. Methods We performed a retrospective study on 112 patients with chronic hepatitis C. For each patient, we considered the baseline alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and serum aspartate transaminase (AST) levels, baseline HCV RNA, HCV genotype, histological evaluation and the mean aminotransferase levels measured in the 6 months following liver biopsy. Results We found a statistically significant correlation between HCV RNA and aminotransferase levels measured during the follow-up (AST: r=0.24, P =0.01; ALT: r=0.27, P=0.004). We also observed a statistically significant correlation between HCV RNA levels and histological activity index (HAI) (r=0.25, P=0.008), as well as between the HAI and both baseline AST (r=0.34, P=0.0002) and ALT levels (r=0.23, P=0.01). These findings were confirmed by the mean aminotransferase values during follow-up. In the regression analysis, the fibrosis score was significantly and independently associated with baseline AST and ALT values. Conclusions Our results demonstrate a statistically significant correlation of aminotransferase values with the histological parameters, and an even stronger correlation with the AST values. Our study therefore suggests that aminotransferase values, especially AST, may correlate with liver damage.