Introduction: The progression of fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is a multifactorialprocess. The high adverse effects and the cost of standard health care increase thedemand to discover new predictors for progression of fibrosis in CHC patients. Ourstudy aims to establish the relation between the angiogenic marker (VEGF) andactivated hepatic stellates cells (HSCs) represented by the expression of α-SMA andwhether these two markers can be used as predictors for the progression of fibrosis inpatients with CHC.Methods: Histopathological and immunohistochemical (IHC) analyses were used forexamining the morphology and expression of VEGF and α-SMA in sixty CHC biopsiesprocured from CHC patients. Multivariate analysis was used to correlate the proteinexpression with staging and grading of liver fibrosis. The cut-off values of α-SMA andVEGF were determined by ROC curve.Results: There was a positive correlation between VEGF and HSCs expressing α-SMA(rho=0.287, p=0.026) and both factors were correlated with the stage of fibrosis(p