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Int J Med Sci 2013; 10(11):1575-1577. doi:10.7150/ijms.6436 This issue Cite

Short Research Communication

Metabolome Analysis of Erythrocytes from Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Reveals the Etiology of Ribavirin-Induced Hemolysis

Tetsuru Karasawa¹, Takafumi Saito^1✉, Yoshiyuki Ueno¹, Masahiro Sugimoto², Tomoyoshi Soga²

1. Department of Gastroenterology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Yamagata 990-9585;
2. Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, Tsuruoka, Yamagata 997-0052, Japan.

✉ Corresponding author: Takafumi Saito, M.D., Department of Gastroenterology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 iida-nishi, Yamagata, Yamagata 990-9585, Yamagata, Japan Tel: +81-23-628-5309 Fax: +81-23-628-5311 Email: tasaitohid.yamagata-u.ac.jp More

Abstract

Ribavirin is one of the major agents used in combination therapy with interferon for chronic hepatitis C, but is often associated with hemolytic anemia as a serious adverse event. Employing metabolome analysis, we demonstrated that the concentrations of intermediate metabolites produced by glycolysis and the pentose phosphate cycle in patients' erythrocytes were significantly decreased after administration of ribavirin. Our findings suggest that hemolysis associated with ribavirin is triggered by an energy crisis and consequent oxidative stress, thus having implications for the prevention of such hemolysis.

Keywords: HCV, ribavirin, anemia, metabolome, glycolysis, pentose phosphate cycle.

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