BACKGROUND Infections, autoimmunity and cancer play a role as determinants of etiology in Hepatitis C virus (HCV) related mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC). Several factors of risk have been suggested as markers of pathogenesis and progression of HCV-related MC into B cell Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (B-NHL). Here, we evaluated IgG subclass distribution, free light chains (FLCs) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as a new combination of biomarkers. METHODS We measured IgG1-4 subclasses, FLCs and VEGF levels in sera 53 from HCV-related MC, in comparison with 40 sera from HCV negative patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 30 from healthy blood donors (HBD). RESULTS IgG3 levels were significantly higher in HCV-MC patients with a decrement of IgG2 and IgG4; FLC levels significantly increased in both MC and RA patients' groups; serological VEGF was higher in HCV-MC patients than in HBD in correlation with k and λ levels. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that a specific IgG subclasses pattern together with raised levels of FLCs and VEGF could represent the biomarker "signature" of an inflammation multistage of acquired immune system.

中文翻译：

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HCV阳性混合冷球蛋白血症患者的前哨生物标志物。

背景技术在丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）相关的混合性冷球蛋白血症（MC）中，感染，自身免疫和癌症起着病因学的作用。已经提出了几种危险因素，作为与HCV相关的MC进入B细胞非霍奇金淋巴瘤（B-NHL）的发病机理和进展的标志物。在这里，我们评估了IgG亚类分布，自由轻链（FLC）和血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）作为生物标志物的新组合。方法我们测量了HCV相关MC的53血清中的IgG1-4亚类，FLC和VEGF水平，与之相比，来自类风湿关节炎（RA）的HCV阴性患者的40血清和来自健康献血者（HBD）的30血清。结果HCV-MC患者中IgG2和IgG4降低，IgG3水平显着升高。MC和RA患者组的FLC水平显着升高；与k和λ水平相关，HCV-MC患者的血清VEGF高于HBD。结论我们的结果表明，特定的IgG亚类模式以及FLC和VEGF的升高水平可以代表获得性免疫系统炎症多阶段的生物标志物“签名”。