• Tahir Asad, Muhammad Aamir, Zujaja Hina Haroon, Sobia Irum Kirmani, Muhammad Usman Munir, and Syed Raza Jaffar.
• Department of Chemical Pathology and Endocrinology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
• J Coll Physicians Surg Pak. 2021 May 1; 31 (5): 528531528-531.

ObjectivesTo find the association of serum hyaluronic acid and laminin levels with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results in hepatitis C sero-positive patients; and the correlation among viral load, serum hyaluronic acid, and serum laminin levels.Study DesignCross-sectional descriptive study.Place And Duration Of StudyDepartment of Chemical Pathology and Endocrinology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), Rawalpindi, Pakistan from December 2019 to July 2020.MethodologyOne hundred and eighty diagnosed cases of hepatitis C patients were included in this study. To find association, cross tabulation was done after dividing into two groups according to their median by applying Chi-square test. Correlation of viral load, duration of disease, serum hyaluronic acid and laminin levels were calculated using Spearman's correlation.ResultsThere were 124 (68.9%) males and 56 (31.1%) females. Median (IQR) age was 36 (32.3 - 45.0) years; while median duration of disease was 12 (8 - 18) months. There was a strong association between PCR positive cases with hyaluronic acid (p <0.001) and serum laminin levels (p <0.001). A strong relationship was found between viral load and serum hyaluronic acid (r =0.889, p <0.001), as well as with serum laminin (r =0.889, p <0.001).ConclusionCurrent study established a strong significant association between PCR results and disease duration with levels of serum laminin and hyaluronic acid. The levels of serum laminin and serum hyaluronic acid also correlate well with viral load and duration of disease. Key Words: Hepatitis C, Hepatic fibrosis, Hyaluronic acid, Laminin.

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