Possible Association of Elevated Plasma Levels of Growth Arrest-Specific Protein 6 and the Soluble Form of Tyrosine Kinase Receptor Axl with Low Hepatitis C Viral Load in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

This study aimed to investigate the plasma levels of Gas6 and soluble Axl (sAxl) in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The study involved four groups; 50 patients with chronic HCV, 50 patients with T2DM, 50 patients with chronic HCV and T2DM, and 31 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. T2DM was diagnosed according to American Diabetes Association criteria, HCV antibodies were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and confirmed by real-time-polymerase chain reaction. Plasma Gas6 and sAxl levels were assayed in all groups by ELISA. Significant low levels of GAS 6 in HCV/T2DM group versus HCV group were detected (7.92 ± 5.18 vs. 16.09 ± 7.36, respectively,  = 0.000), but higher than T2DM and control groups ( ≥ 0.05), although nonsignificant. HCV load was higher in the HCV group than the HCV/T2DM group (1,888,300 ± 5,595,070 vs. 1,417,900 ± 4,066,460 copies/mL, respectively,  = 0.632). Among HCV group, significant positive correlations were detected between Gas6 and sAxl levels with HCV viral load ( = 0.48,  = 0.000 and  = 0.43,  = 0.002, respectively), while among HCV/T2DM group, significant negative correlations were detected ( = -0.29,  = 0.04 and  = -0.34,  = 0.014, respectively). Significant negative correlations were detected between Gas6/sAxl levels and glycated hemoglobin ( = -0.36,  = 0.01 and  = -0.4,  = 0.003, respectively) in T2DM despite the positive correlations detected in HCV/T2DM ( = 0.27,  = 0.053 and  = 0.55,  = 0.000, respectively). In conclusion, Gas6/Axl system in combined HCV/T2DM diseases may affect the pathogenesis and can alter the biomarkers and complications of both diseases in a manner that differs from a solitary disease.