Zinc Supplementation Improves the Outcome of Chronic Hepatitis C and Liver Cirrhosis

Abstract

Summary We treated patients with C-viral chronic hepatitis (CH) and liver cirrhosis (LC) with polaprezinc and determined prospectively the effect on long-term outcome. 62 patients were enrolled. Of these, 32 were administered 1.0 g polaprezinc and the remainder were not administered polaprezinc. We measured the serum zinc concentrations using conventional atomic absorption spectrometry and conducted a prospective study to determine the long-term outcome of the polaprezinc therapy. Changes of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in the polaprezinc administration group were significantly lower than those of the untreated group. The decrease in platelet count was clearly less than that of the untreated group. The factors that inhibited increases in serum zinc concentrations following administration of polaprezinc included low serum zinc concentration states. Furthermore, the reductions of AST and ALT levels in the low zinc group were significantly greater than those of the high zinc group. When the patients who were administered polaprezinc were divided into two groups whose zinc concentrations increased (zinc responders) or remained stable or decreased (zinc non-responders), the zinc responders had a clearly lower cumulative incidence of HCC than the zinc non-responders. We conclude zinc supplementation improved the long-term outcome in C-viral CH and LC patients.

Biochemical Nutritional Profile of Liver Cirrhosis Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…Reduction in the zinc serum levels has been reported in the presence of HCV, cirrhosis and HCC, especially in more severe patients (17,24,27) . Some authors have observed significant reduction in the zinc levels in patients with chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and HCC, suggesting that it should be used as a HCC prognosis biomarker (17,27) .…”

“…However, significant reduction of the plasmatic levels of this mineral appears only in cases of severe nutritional deficiencies (15) . Some authors have suggested that zinc supplementation in liver cirrhosis patients with low plasmatic zinc levels can decrease the cumulative incidence of HCC, and improve long-term outcome (24) . The data found herein regarding serum zinc corroborates the literature.…”

An Assay for Determination of Hepatic Zinc by AAS - Comparison of Fresh and Deparaffinized Tissue

“…Disorders in zinc metabolism have been described in patients with chronic liver disease, and several studies found a decrease in plasma, serum or liver zinc concentrations (Loguercio et al, 2001;Halifeoglu et al, Schneider et al, 2009;Matsuoka et al, 2009, Milman et al, 1986Göksu & Özsoylu, 1986;Sharda & Bhandari, 1986;Bode et al, 1988;Kollmeier et al, 1992). The decrease of zinc in liver disease seems to be associated with decreased intake, poor absorption associated with portal hypertension, and greater urinary excretion (Loguercio et al, 2001).…”

“…As well, some interesting studies were published on the importance of zinc related to hepatic diseases. Decreases in plasma (Halifeoglu et al, 2004;Schneider et al, 2009;Pereira et al, 2011) or serum (Hamed et al, 2008, Matsuoka et al, 2009) zinc concentrations have been described in patients with chronic liver diseases. Authors that measured zinc in the liver parenchyma of adults and children with liver cirrhosis found low zinc levels (Milman et al, 1986;Göksu & Özsoylu, 1986;Sharda & Bhandari, 1986;Kollmeier et al, 1992;Adams et al, 1994).…”

Mitochondrial Free Radicals, Antioxidants, Nutrient Substances, and Chronic Hepatitis C

“…In clinical observation, the daily dose of polaprezinc includes 34 mg elemental Zn for six months that markedly decreases both ALT and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels and enhances the response to IFN-a therapy (Takagi et al, 2001;Nagamine et al, 2000;Matsuoka et al, 2009). However, Zn administration did not affect virologic response (Takagi et al, 2001), SVR, and adverse side effects except for gastrointestinal disturbance (Suzuki et al, 2006).…”