الفهرس 
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Abstract
Abstract
Association between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC) still remains controversial. This work is concerned with assessing the potential role of H. pylori in the progression of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related chronic liver disease.
The discovery of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) has without doubt been one of the most remarkable achievements in medical research in the past three decades. H. pylori infects 50% of the world population. Its prevalence varies widely in different parts of the world with higher rates in developing countries. In most instances, it is acquired during childhood, and is often associated with low socioeconomic class. It produces chronic gastritis by provoking local inflammatory response in the epithelium through release of a range of cytokine. The World Health Organization classifies the bacterium as a class I carcinogen and a close association between infection and 70% of gastric cancer cases worldwide has been reported. Additionally, liver is likely a probable organ to be affected by H. pylori activity. In this case, clinicians would need a rapid and reproducible, noninvasive assay for the screening of patients for the presence of this pathogen and if a patient indeed tested positive for H. pylori for monitoring the success of eradication therapy. Unfortunately, H. pylori is fastidious and difficult to cultivate. Therefore, detecting serum H. pylori antigen offers an alternative noninvasive diagnostic test. In this respect, we previously developed a sensitive and specific noninvasive immunoassay based on the detection of H. pylori circulating antigen in sera from H. pylori-infected individuals with high degree of accuracy. On the other hand, increasing evidence suggests that H. pylori may be a risk factor for developing cirrhosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC).