Expression of Fas (CD95) and Bcl-2 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with chronic HCV and schistosomiasis

Peer review under responsibility of Mansoura University.

Figures & data

Fig. 1 (A) lymphocyte apoptosis by Giemsa stain. (B) Lymphocyte apoptosis by acridine orange stain.

Fig. 2 DNA fragmentation assay using gel electrophoresis. The grading of DNA fragmentation as mild (+), moderate (++), or severe (+++) can be explained by the location of the bands corresponding to the fragmented DNA.

Table 1 Apoptosis detection by acridine orange and Giemsa stains in the chronic hepatitis C group vs the schistosomiasis group.

Stain	Group	Percentage of apoptotic cells	P
		Mean (±SD)
Acridine orange	Chronic hepatitis C (N = 40)	38.71 (±11.74)	A*** < 0.001
	Schistosomiasis (N = 25)	16.64 (±9.6)	B*** < 0.001
	Control (N = 20)	7.31 (±1.64)	C*** < 0.001
Giemsa	Chronic hepatitis C (N = 40)	37.55 (±7.8)	A*** < 0.001
	Schistosomiasis (N = 25)	15.36 (±8.7)	B*** < 0.001
	Control (N = 20)	6.9 (±1.33)	C*** < 0.001

Student t test, p < 0.001*** extremely significant difference.

p > 0.05 (NS) non-significant difference.

A: chronic HCV vs control.

B: schistosomiasis vs control.

C: chronic HCV vs schistosomiasis.

Table 2 Detection of apoptosis by DNA fragmentation in the chronic hepatitis C group vs the schistosomiasis group.

DNA fragmentation		Chronic hepatitis C (N = 40)	Schistosomiasis (N = 25)	Control (N = 20)	Test of significance (chi-square)
(−)	%	0	0	0	A*** = <0.001 B** = 0.014 C*** = 0.002
(+)	%	0	52	0
(++)	%	42.1	16	6.3
(+++)	%	57.9	32	12.4

Chi-square test, p < 0.01** highly significant difference.

p > 0.001*** extremely significant.

p > 0.05 (NS) non-significant difference.

A: chronic HCV vs control.

B: schistosomiasis vs control.

C: chronic HCV vs schistosomiasis.

Table 3 Detection of Fas and Bcl-2 expression by flow cytometry in the chronic hepatitis C group vs the schistosomiasis group (intestinal and hepatosplenic).

	Group	Percentage of cells showing positivity	P
		Mean (±SD)
Fas	Chronic HCV (N = 40)	59.39 (±24.33)	A***<0.001 B***<0.001 C***<0.001
	Schistosomiasis (N = 25) - Intestinal (9) - Hepatosplenic (16)	28.20 (±10.72)
		46.5 (±14.009)***
		25.7 (±5.16)
	Control (20)	9.86 (±1.35)
Bcl-2	Chronic HCV (N = 40)	23.51 (±10.31)	A* = 0.49 B* = 0.51 C* = 0.12
	Schistosomiasis (N = 25) - Intestinal (9) - Hepatosplenic (16)	23.65 (±15.17)
		21.33 (±34.69)
		40.12 (±74.41)
	Control (20)	20.33 (±17.84)

Student t test; p > 0.05* (NS) non-significant difference.

p < 0.001*** extremely significant.

A: chronic HCV vs control.

B: schistosomiasis vs control.

C: chronic HCV vs schistosomiasis.

Table 4 Detection of Fas and Bcl-2 expression by flow cytometry in the chronic hepatitis C (compensated vs non compensated cases).

Group	Fas Mean (±SD)	Bcl-2 Mean (±SD)
Compensated HCV (no = 22)	41.4 (±12.88)	22.0 (±3.62)
Decompensated HCV (no = 18)	64.6 (±12.19)	25.8 (±10.75)
Control (no = 20	9.86 (±1.35)	20.33 (±17.84)
P	p < 0.001	p > 0.05
Fas
	Significance
- Compensated vs decompensated chronic hepatitis C	p***
- Chronic hepatitis C (compensated) vs control	p***
- Chronic hepatitis C (decompensated) vs control	p***
Bcl-2
	Significance
- Compensated vs decompensated chronic hepatitis C	p*
- Chronic hepatitis C (compensated) vs control	p*
- Chronic hepatitis C (decompensated) vs control	p*

p* > 0.05 (NS) non-significant difference.

p*** < 0.001 extremely significant difference.