Successful antiviral therapy is associated with a decrease of serum prohepcidin in chronic hepatitis C

Table 4 Serum prohepcidin concentrations in genotype 3a HCV-infected patients during antiviral therapy with respect to SVR (mean ± SE)

	Prohepcidin (ng/mL)		P
	Responders (n = 21)	Non-responders (n = 3)
Baseline	99.5 ± 5.2	94.1 ± 7.9	0.620
6 h	87.6 ± 5.1	83.1 ± 4.7	0.760
24 h	84.3 ± 4.0	78.6 ± 6.5	0.730
48 h	76.8 ± 7.0	97.3 ± 22.1	0.630
7th d	99.6 ± 6.1	96.2 ± 6.3	0.940
4th wk	97.5 ± 6.3	84.9 ± 18.8	0.640
12th wk	83.7 ± 4.7	90.1 ± 13.3	0.750
24th wk	72.7 ± 6.1	103.5 ± 12.4	0.080
ANOVA1	χ2 = 14.8, P = 0.010	-

¹Calculated from data collected at baseline and weeks 4, 12, 24. ANOVA was not calculated for non-responders because of insufficient number of patients.