الفهرس 
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Abstract
Aim of the work: Growth arrest specific protein 6 (Gas6) and its tyrosine kinase receptor Axl (sAxl) plays an important role in inflammation and autoimmune disease, therefore, we investigated their plasma concentrations in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM) and correlated them to symptoms and signs of HCV infection and DM.
Methods: Blood samples from 90 subjects divided into four groups (25 patients with chronic infection HCV without DM, 25 patients with chronic HCV and DM, 25 patients with DM without HCV and 15 controls) were assayed for plasma Gas6 and sAxl levels by ELISA. Detection of HCV antibodies in patient serum was performed by ELISA. Positive cases of HCV by ELISA were confirmed by real time RT- PCR.
Results: The plasma Gas6 and sAxl levels were significantly higher in chronic HCV (with liver cirrhosis) versus other groups (P< 0.001). Among patients with both HCV and DM, the plasma Gas6 concentrations were significantly higher versus patients with DM alone (p=0.004) and controls (p= 0.002) and the plasma sAxl concentrations were significantly lower than patients with HCV alone (P< 0.001) but no significant difference between HCV +DM group versus control and DM group (p> 0.05). As regards to DM group, insignificant increase in plasma levels of Gas6 was detected in patients as compared to those controls (p> 0.05). On the other hand, plasma levels of sAxl were insignificant decreased in DM patients versus controls (p> 0.05).
Conclusions: Alteration of plasma concentrations of Gas6 and sAxl in patients with both HCV and DM could have a role in disease pathogenesis.
Key words: Gas6, sAxl, HCV, DM.