Abstract: Objective To investigate granulysin expression in peripheral blood of patients with acute viral hepatitis C and its clinical significance. Methods The level of GNLYmRNA in the PBMC and the content of serum GNLY were determinded by RT-PCR and ELISA, respectively. Results The expression of PBMC GNLYmRNA in patients with acute hepatitis C (7.71 ± 1.44) was higher than that of controls (0.83 ± 0.17) (P<0.01)；and serum GNLY average content (20.16 ± 6.03)ng/mL was also higher than that of controls (9.94 ± 2.99)ng/mL (P<0.01). The level of GNLYmRNA expression in PBMC had negatively correlation with the level of HCV-RNA expression (r=-0.869, P<0.01); the content of serum GNLY and the ALT was positively correlated (r=0.522, P <0.01), and was also positively correlated with AST (r=0.661, P<0.01). Conclusion The GNLY gene and protein expression levels are both higher in patients with acute viral hepatitis C compared with those in normal controls. The change level of GNLY expression may be helpful for determining of the cell immune status of acute viral hepatitis C patients, monitoring the condition of acute viral hepatitis C.

Key words: acute viral hepatitis C, granulysin, GNLYmRNA, ELISA