Clinical trial: low plasma cholesterol and oxidative stress predict rapid virological response to standard therapy with peginterferon and ribavirin in HCV patients
August 3rd, 2009 Posted by: admin
Background Rapid virological response (RVR) is the best predictor of sustained response to standard HCV treatment. Aim To evaluate predictive factors of RVR.Methods Sixty-five patients (mean age 52.6 ± 13.8; 37 genotype-1, and 28 genotypes-2/3) were consecutively treated with pegIFN-alpha2a or 2b once weekly plus daily ribavirin based on body weight for 24 or 48 weeks, according to genotype. RVR was defined as undetectable HCV-RNA at week 4.Results Twenty-seven percent of patients achieved RVR in genotypes 1 and 60.7% in genotypes 2/3 (P < 0.01). Rapid responders had higher mean serum baseline total and LDL-cholesterol levels (P < 0.01). RVR was 20.0% in the bottom tertile of total cholesterol and 63.6% in the top tertile (P < 0.01). HCV-RNA levels at week 4 were positively correlated with baseline serum insulin (P < 0.01), HOMA-IR (P < 0.01), body mass index (P < 0.05) and number of components of metabolic syndrome (P < 0.01) and negatively correlated with cholesterol levels (P < 0.05). At multivariate analysis, age, LDL-cholesterol, HCV genotype and serum 8-iso-PGF2alpha, a marker of oxidative stress, were independent predictors of RVR.Conclusions Our prospective study supports a role of low serum total and LDL-cholesterol and of oxidative stress as positive independent predictive factors of poor RVR in HCV patients.
August 9th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Vitamin C – The first line of defence against Heart Disease -
Vitamin C is a very powerful antioxidant. Dr Miller recommends taking anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 milligrams a day to reduce the oxidation of LDL and prevent heart disease.
At this point I would like to refer to the work of Drs Rath and Pauling and their breakthrough research which, in addition to recognising the antioxidant role of vitamin C, was to reveal that atherosclerosis is not a disease, but possibly the body’s way of repairing or bolstering weak or damaged arteries. It was Dr Rath who was part of a group of researchers who had discovered that the major culprit in cholesterol was lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)], an especially ‘sticky’ molecule that incorporates itself into the collagen found in artery walls, thereby causing atherosclerosis.
The next great insight was that animals do not get atherosclerosis – a fact well known to vets for the past 50 years. Animals produce an enzyme that converts glucose into vitamin C in the liver. Could it be that we humans are suffering from a form of scurvy caused by insufficient amounts of vitamin C which in turn forces the body to use lipoproteins in cholesterol to repair damaged arteries? Thus, atherosclerosis in humans and guinea pigs (guinea pigs and humans need vitamin C in their diet whereas all other mammalian species make their own) is due to vitamin C deficiency. The body reservoir of vitamin C in people is on average 10 to 100 times lower than the vitamin C levels in animals.
As Dr Rath reports, vitamin C is essential for the production of collagen and elastin, the elastic, fibrous materials which knit the walls of arteries and blood vessels together. Collagen cells form the structure for arteries, organs and skin, and so a chronic vitamin C deficiency causes the beginning of a collapse in the arterial walls, necessitating a healing process to commence in the form of lipoprotein (a) fats which the body attempts to use to bond the thousands of tiny breaches in the arterial walls. It is a fact that atherosclerosis mainly occurs in the vessels near the heart due to the constant mechanical stress caused by the heart’s pumping force. The need for ongoing repairs of these leaky artery walls
produces an overcompensation of repair materials which, in the absence of sufficient quantities of vitamin C, vitamin E, proline and lysine (amino acids), will lead to atherosclerotic deposits in the arterial walls to cover the breaches caused by the disintegrating collagen. For further information on this subject I recommend you read Dr Matthias Rath’s book entitled Why Animals Don’t Get Heart Attacks – But People Do! (MR Publishing).
Sources
Vitamin C is found in berries, citrus fruits, and green vegetables. Good sources include asparagus, avocados, beet greens, blackcurrants, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cantaloupe, collards, dulse, grapefruit, kale, lemons, mangoes, onions, oranges, papayas, green peas,
sweet peppers, pineapple, radishes, rose hips, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes, and watercress.
* Smokers please be aware that each cigarette destroys 25 mg of Vitamin C.