Hepatitis B infection in patients with acute liver failure in the United States

Eng‐Kiong Teo, George Ostapowicz, Munira Hussain, William M. Lee, Robert J. Fontana, Anna S. F. Lok – 30 December 2003 – Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been reported in 30% to 50% of patients with acute liver failure (ALF) in small case series. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of occult HBV infection in a large series of ALF patients in the United States and the prevalence of precore and core promoter variants in patients with ALF caused by hepatitis B.

Etiologic significance of defects in cholesterol, phospholipid, and bile acid metabolism in the liver of patients with intrahepatic calculi

Junichi Shoda, Koji Oda, Hiroshi Suzuki, Yuichi Sugiyama, Kosei Ito, David E. Cohen, Li Feng, Junichi Kamiya, Yuji Nimura, Hiroshi Miyazaki, Masahito Kano, Yasushi Matsuzaki, Naomi Tanaka – 30 December 2003 – Intrahepatic calculi, highly prevalent in the Far East, including Japan, are characterized clinically by chronic proliferative cholangitis with frequent stone recurrences. Intrahepatic calculi consist of 2 groups, i.e., brown pigment stones, including a high cholesterol content, and cholesterol stones, with the former predominating.

Autoimmune regulator AIRE: Evidence for genetic differences between autoimmune hepatitis and hepatitis as part of the autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 1

Arndt Vogel, Heike Liermann, Andrea Harms, Christian P. Strassburg, Michael P. Manns, Petra Obermayer‐Straub – 30 December 2003 – The mechanisms driving the immune‐mediated destruction of hepatic tissues in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) are unknown. Recently the autoimmune regulator (AIRE), a gene associated with the development of the autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 1 (APS‐1), was cloned. About 15% to 20% of APS‐1 patients develop hepatitis. However, the role of AIRE mutations in AIH, primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is not known.

Characterization of liver T‐cell receptor γδ+ T cells obtained from individuals chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV): Evidence for these T cells playing a role in the liver pathology associated with HCV infections

Chien‐Te K. Tseng, Emil Miskovsky, Michael Houghton, Gary R. Klimpel – 30 December 2003 – The pathogenic mechanisms involved in viral hepatitis are not completely understood. Evidence suggests that the pathology associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections are a result of the immune response in the liver to these viruses. The livers of patients with viral hepatitis have been shown to contain elevated numbers of T cells expressing the γ/δ form of the T‐cell receptor for antigen (TCRγδ).

Protracted, but not acute, hepatitis A virus infection is strongly associated with HLA‐DRB1*1301, a marker for pediatric autoimmune hepatitis

Leonardo Fainboim, Maria Cristina Cañero Velasco, Cintia Y. Marcos, Mirta Ciocca, Adriana Roy, Graciela Theiler, Monica Capucchio, Silvia Nuncifora, Livio Sala, Marta Zelazko – 30 December 2003 – HLA alleles are known to be associated with susceptibility to develop autoimmune hepatitis (AH), and hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is postulated as a putative trigger for AH. We investigated whether HLA may influence the outcome of the HAV infection by studying 67 children with self‐limited and 39 children with protracted forms of this infection.

Expression of hepatitis C virus NS5A natural mutants in a hepatocytic cell line inhibits the antiviral effect of interferon in a PKR‐independent manner

Philippe Podevin, Abdelmajid Sabile, Rodrigo Gajardo, Nadira Delhem, Annie Abadie, Pierre‐Yves Lozach, Laura Beretta, Christian Bréchot – 30 December 2003 – The impact of hepatitis C virus NS5A protein mutations on interferon alfa (IFN‐α) signaling pathway, cell proliferation, and viability is an important issue that is still under debate. We have therefore combined transient and stable expression in a human hepatocytic cell line (Huh7) of 3 full‐length NS5A sequences, isolated from patients with or without response to IFN‐α therapy.

A randomized, double‐blind trial comparing pegylated interferon alfa‐2b to interferon alfa‐2b as initial treatment for chronic hepatitis C

Karen L. Lindsay, Christian Trepo, Tobias Heintges, Mitchell L. Shiffman, Stuart C. Gordon, John C. Hoefs, Eugene R. Schiff, Zachary D. Goodman, Mark Laughlin, Ruji Yao, Janice K. Albrecht – 30 December 2003 – This international, randomized, active‐controlled, parallel‐group, double‐blind dose‐finding study compared peginterferon alfa‐2b (PegIntron™) to interferon alfa‐2b for the initial treatment of compensated chronic hepatitis C.

Smoking and hypoxemia caused by hepatopulmonary syndrome before and after liver transplantation

Giovanni Rolla, Luisa Brussino, Luca Dutto, Antonio Ottobrelli, Caterina Bucca – 30 December 2003 – Severe hypoxemia may occur in patients with liver disease as a result of abnormal intrapulmonary vasodilatations (hepatopulmonary syndrome, HPS). Liver transplantation (LT) is the only effective treatment of HPS, with a quite variable delay of improvement of oxygenation. Smoking, by decreasing respiratory nitric oxide (NO), apparently contributed to improved oxygenation in a 44‐year‐old man with alcohol‐induced cirrhosis, complicated by HPS, who underwent LT.

A comparative study of antibody expressions in primary biliary cirrhosis and autoimmune cholangitis using phage display

Nobuhiro Ikuno, Marita Scealy, Janet M. Davies, Senga F. Whittingham, Katsuhisa Omagari, Ian R. Mackay, Merrill J. Rowley – 30 December 2003 – Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and autoimmune cholangitis (AIC) are serologic expressions of an autoimmune liver disease affecting biliary ductular cells.

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