Vitamin C supplementation ameliorates liver function profile and antiviral treatment response in Hepatitis C patients

• Published in: Pakistan journal of pharmaceutical sciences 2022-03, Vol.35 (2(Special)), p.619-625
• Main Authors: Nayila, Iffat, Javed, Muhammad Shahid, Khan, Muhammad Asaf, Hussain, Ghulam, Raza Naqvi, Syed Ali, Ali, Safdar, Jabeen, Zahra, Shahnawaz, Saira, Akram, Rabia, Iman, Tehreem, Hassan Dogar, Muhammad Zahoor-Ul, Malik, Shoaib Ahmad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1011-601X
• DOI: 10.36721/PJPS.2022.35.2.SP.619-625.1

An imbalance between oxidative stress and antioxidative defence mediates a variety of diseases pathogenesis. The present study aims to assess the possible outcome of supplementation of oral vitamin-C (VC), an antioxidant, in Viral Hepatitis C (HCV) treatment as an adjuvant therapy. 200 HCV-patients were selected, 100 were given Vitamin-C (1000 mg/day) along with anti HCV treatment (sofosbuvir plus daclatasvir) while the other 100 took only anti-HCV treatment for 4weeks. The serum ascorbic acid (Vitamin-C) levels and functions of the liver were tested before and after the VC supplementation. HCV patients with relatively low serum ascorbic acid showed significant improvement after the intake of vitamin C. After 4 weeks of treatment, AST, ALP, albumin, and total, direct and indirect bilirubin were improved significantly in the VC group; whereas only ALT and indirect bilirubin were improved in both groups when associated with the control subjects. Comparing the two treatment groups at 4weeks; more effective and significant improvement was observed in ALT (p