DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism used by cells to control gene expression. DNA methylation is a commonly used epigenetic signaling tool that can hold genes in the “off” position. Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is considered a major risk for chronic liver impairment. It is the most common leading cause of HCC. The present work is aimed at studying whole genome 5-methylcytosine levels in cirrhotic HCV-infected Egyptian patients. In the present study, 120 Egyptian adults were included. They were divided into two groups: group І (40 apparently healthy control subjects) and group ІІ (80 HCV-infected patients). Furthermore, group II was subdivided into 2 subgroups according to the presence of HCC in HCV-infected subjects. To all studied subjects, the level of 5-mC% was measured in peripheral blood. In the present study, the median of 5-methylcytosine% in the control group (group I) was 2.5, in the HCV group (group IIa) was 2.45, and in the HCC group (group II b) was 2.25. A stepwise decrease in 5-methylcytosine% from the control (group I) toward HCC (group IIb) was observed, taking into consideration that the stepwise global hypomethylation was not statistically significant (). There was a negative correlation between ALT and 5-methylcytosine% (). From this study, we can conclude that global DNA 5-methylcytosine% does not differ in HCV-infected cirrhotic patients and HCC patients when compared to normal controls. Consecutively, we had concluded that there is no impact of 5-methylcytosine% on the development of liver cirrhosis or HCC. Moreover, the negative correlation between 5-methylcytosine% and serum ALT level denotes a trend of decrease in 5-methylcytosine% with more liver damage.

中文翻译：

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肝硬化HCV感染的埃及患者中有无肝细胞癌的全基因组5-甲基胞嘧啶水平定量

DNA甲基化是细胞用来控制基因表达的表观遗传机制。DNA甲基化是一种常用的表观遗传信号传导工具，可以将基因保持在“关闭”位置。丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）的慢性感染被认为是慢性肝功能不全的主要风险。这是肝癌最常见的主要原因。本工作的目的是研究整个基因组5 -肝硬化HCV感染的埃及患者中的甲基胞嘧啶水平。在本研究中，包括120名埃及成年人。他们分为两组：group组（40名明显健康的对照受试者）和ІІ组（80名HCV感染患者）。此外，根据HCV感染受试者中HCC的存在，将II组分为2个亚组。对于所有研究对象，均在外周血中测量了5-mC％的水平。在本研究中，5位数-对照组（组I）在甲基胞嘧啶％为2.5，所述HCV组（IIa族）中为2.45，而HCC组（组II b）如为2.25。一个循序渐进减少5 -考虑到逐步总体低甲基化在统计学上不显着（从对照组（I组）到肝癌（IIb组）的甲基胞嘧啶％））。有ALT和5之间的负相关性-甲基胞嘧啶％（）。从这项研究中，我们可以得出结论：全球DNA 5 -相比于正常对照时甲基胞嘧啶％不HCV感染的肝硬化患者和肝癌患者不同。连续地，我们的结论是，有5没有影响-甲基胞嘧啶％的肝硬化或肝癌的发展。此外，5之间的负相关性-甲基胞嘧啶％血清ALT水平，并且表示降低在5趋势-甲基胞嘧啶％更肝损害。