Effects of chronic HCV infection and spontaneously resolved HCV infection on serum trace elements and their relationships with serum albumin and circulating HCV RNA load

Objective To comparatively analyze serum levels of zinc , iron, magnesium, calcium, copper and phosphorus and their relationships with serum albumin and circulating HCV viral load in patients with chronic HCV infection , subjects with spontaneously resolved HCV infection and healthy subjects . Methods Serum levels of the six trace elements in patients with chronic HCV infection （n=59）, subjects with spontaneously resolved HCV infection （n=65） and healthy subjects （n=48） were measured by a flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer and then a comparative analysis was performed to analyze the differences among the three groups .The relationships of the six trace elements with serum albumin and HCV viral load were analyzed among patients with chronic HCV infection .Results Compared with healthy subjects , the levels of serum zinc were significantly decreased , but serum levels of iron , copper , phosphorus were signifi-cantly increased in patients with chronic HCV infection .There was a significant positive correlation between the levels of zinc（r=0.4022, P=0.0016）and albumin in patients with chronic HCV infection with ALT no less than 40 IU/L, whereas negative correlations were presented between trace elements of iron （ r=-0.3001, P=0.0209）, copper （r=-0.3856, P=0.0036）, phosphorus （r=-0.3600, P=0.0075） and serum albumin.The circulating HCV viral load was negatively correlated with serum zinc （r=-0.4367, P=0.0005）, but positively correlated with serum copper （r=0.3328, P=0.0139）.The serum levels of six trace elements showed no significant differences between healthy subjects and spontaneous resolvers of HCV infection.Moreover, no significant differences of serum calcium and magnesium were found among the three groups.Conclusion Chronic HCV infection can induce abnormal serum levels of zinc , iron, copper and phosphorus and the abnormal serum levels of trace elements were closely related with liver function and HCV viral load.With the spontaneous clearance of HCV infection , the serum levels of trace elements could restore to normal . Key words: Chronic HCV infection;  Spontaneously resolved HCV infection;  Trace elements;  Albumin;  HCV viral load