Motoshige Miyano

Changes in serum and red blood cell membrane lipids in patients treated with interferon ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C

One of the side effects by interferon ribavirin (I/R) treatment is haemolytic anemia, causing some patients to discontinue I/R treatment. The exact mechanism of I/R-induced anemia is unknown. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of I/R treatment on the serum lipid and red blood cell (RBC) membrane lipid profiles of patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and the association between changes of RBC membrane lipids and haemolytic anemia by I/R treatment. Fourteen patients with CHC were treated with I/R and their serum lipid profiles were studied. In addition, in seven of the 14 patients, the RBC membrane lipid profiles were analysed. In the RBC membrane lipid composition, the total cholesterol, total phospholipids and cholesterol/phospholipids (C/PL) ratio were significantly increased. Phosphatidylcholine (PC) and the phosphatidylcholine/ sphingomyelin (PC/SM) ratio were significantly decreased and other phospholipid fractions were significantly increased. Changes in the serum lipids and RBC membrane lipid profiles of patients with CHC treated with I/R were shown. Especially, a decrease in the RBC deformability and membrane fluidity by changes in these RBC membrane lipids was supposed and it is suggested that those changes may result in haemolytic anemia by I/R treatment.

Changes in plasma alpha and gamma tocopherol levels before and after long-term local hyperthermia in cancer patients

Local hyperthermia is one of the heat therapies for cancer patients. The effect of this therapy is recognized to affect the immune function. On the other hand, researchers have recently suggested that vitamin E has not only antioxidant but also other functions including the immune function. However, the association between local hyperthermia therapy and vitamin E level is not yet well understood. Comparing plasma alpha and gamma tocopherol levels before and after the therapy, the basal levels of both tocopherols in the cancer patients did not significantly differ from those in healthy subjects. However, the interindividual difference in the basal levels was very wide in the cancer patients. After long-term local hyperthermia (more than 70 days), the levels of both tocopherols were significantly higher than the basal levels. This result suggests that long-term local hyperthermia therapy influences plasma tocopherol level in cancer patients; thus, an increase in vitamin E level may play an important role in the therapy of cancer patients.