[Serum neopterin in hepatitis B]

Activation of the immunity system commonly followed the development of viral diseases. Neopterin is evidently a marker of the activation. Elevation of neopterin levels in AIDS and tumor patients correlates with the severity of the disease. Radioimmunoassay of neopterin content was performed in the sera of 11 patients with virus B hepatitis (6 patients with its acute pattern, 3 with its acute pattern concurrent with delta-infection and 2 subjects with chronic active virus B hepatitis). Mean neopterin content in the sera of virus B hepatitis patients was 19.9 +/- 5.7 nM/l being significantly higher than that in donors (5.0 +/- 0.8 nM/l) (p less than 0.001). In this line neopterin levels higher than 9 nM/l (the upper normal limits) were identified in 63% of the patients. Mean content of beta-2-microglobulin in hepatitis patients was 3.3 +/- 0.53 mg/l being significantly different from that in donors (1.8 +/- 0.3 mg/l) (p less than 0.05). Association between higher neopterin levels and the severity of the disease was fully proved clinically, with the exception of the two expired persons whose neopterin levels were within normal limits. The data obtained evidenced an increase in neopterin levels associated with virus B hepatitis. It widened the understanding of the disease pathogenesis and permitted the determination of neopterin levels be used in correlation with clinical data as a prognostic value for the course of the disease.