الفهرس 
INTRODUCTION &Aim of the workOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
HCV is a major etiologic agent of chronic hepatitis worldwide and may lead to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. An important point in the sequence of events determining the fate of hepatocytes in HCV infected patient is the interaction between Fas ligand on cytotoxic T lymphocytes and Fas receptor on hepatocytes. Fas/Fas ligand interaction is the major mechanism of HCV-induced hepatocyte apoptosis. The harmony between Fas system members is the maystro of hepatocyte necrosis-apoptosis symphony that detects the final picture of HCV infection in chronic HCV infected patients. This study included 45 chronic HCV patients, they were grouped into two groups according to the associated pathology:-*Group I:Chronic HCV patients with liver related disease. *Group II:Chronic HCV patients without liver related disease. In addition to 13 HCV negative patients were included as a control group. Assay of anti HCV antibodies by ELISA, abdominal ultrasound, histopathological examination, liver function tests in addition to haematological profiles.Fas and Fas-L expression were detected using flow cytometry in addition to assessment of serum sFas level using ELISA technique. From our results, the following is noticed: ” HAI js significantly increased in patients group II in comparison to patients group I. About 58%of cases of were represented by mild activity.As regard Fas study;Fas expression on liver cells in chronic HCV patients is insignificantly decreased in comparison to the control group.Fas L expression on liver infiltrating cells is highly significantly decreased in chronic HCV patients.There is a very highly significant increased level of serum sFas in chronic HCV patients compared to the control group.Regarding histopathologic examination, a significant negative correlation between Fas expression and HAI,no other significant correlation was detected between Fas,Fas L expression or sFas and fibrosis or duration of HCV infection. From our study we can conclude that: Fas system is one of the most important pathways regulating the response to HCV infection. Increased serum sFas in HCV patients is accompanied by down-regulation of Fas/Fas-L expression, resulting in inhibition of apoptosis in liver cells as a process for elimination of virus-infected cells and this ultimately leads to chronicity of the disease