Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.6.1.1 (aspartate aminotransferase)
 21,665 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A study of the clinical profile of 59 patients who presented with hepatitis A virus infection showed that dark urine, fatigue, gastrointestinal complaints, and fever were the most common presenting symptoms. The most frequent physical findings were hepatomegaly and jaundice. The mean presenting laboratory tests included total bilirubin of 5 mg/dL, alkaline phosphatase of 269 units/L, and serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels of 1442 mIU/mL and 1952 mIU/mL, respectively. Atypical manifestations included relapse, cholestasis, rash, and arthralgia. Two patients presented with hepatitis A and concomitant type I autoimmune chronic hepatitis, and both required immunosuppressive therapy. Five patients who presented with hepatitis A were pregnant, and during follow-up, none of their infants developed elevated serum transaminase values or had detectable IgM anti-HAV antibody. All 59 patients experienced complete clinical and biochemical recovery within 6 months after onset of illness.
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PMID:Clinical manifestations of hepatitis A: recent experience in a community teaching hospital. 787 41

Chronic hepatitis due to putative non-A, non-B, non-C hepatitis occurring in an individual who is negative for HBV and HCV markers has been identifiable only recently. Little or nothing is known about its natural history or response to interferon therapy. In the present study, 13 subjects with chronic non-A, non-B, non-C hepatitis were treated with interferon for 6 months (5 million units, three times per week). Prior to and after 6 months of therapy and again 6 weeks after discontinuing interferon therapy, each subject underwent a liver biopsy. These tissues were used to define the histopathology, the character of the cellular infiltrate within the liver, and the changes in histopathology and inflammatory infiltrate achieved in response to interferon therapy and withdrawal. No differences for age, gender, initial AST, bilirubin, histopathology, or Knodell score were evident between responders (n = 7) and non-responders (n = 6). Only the number of NK cells was altered significantly as a result of IFN treatment and distinguished responders from non-responders. These data demonstrate that: (1) chronic non-A, non-B, non-hepatitis can be treated with interferon; (2) interferon activates NK cells and enhances hepatocyte expression of Class II MHC antigens; and (3) interferon also increases the number of CD3, CD4, and CD8 cells found within the liver but these changes do not distinguish between responders and non-responders.
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PMID:Treatment of putative non-A, non-B, non-C hepatitis with alpha interferon: a preliminary trial. 793 74

Factors predictive of the response to interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis C remain to be identified. In this study, we investigated factors predictive of the short-term response, defined as a return to normal alanine aminotransferase activity after treatment, and the long-term response defined as normal alanine aminotransferase activity 1 year after completing treatment, in 75 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus treated with recombinant alpha interferon (either 6 MU x 3/week for 3 months then 3 MU x 3/week for 3 months (n = 27) or 3 MU x 3/week for 6 months (n = 48)). At the end of treatment, 42 patients (56%) had normal alanine aminotransferase activity ("responders") and 33 (44%) had high alanine aminotransferase activity ("non-responders"). Twenty (48%) of the 42 responders had normal alanine aminotransferase activity 1 year after treatment ("sustained responders"), while 22 (52%) had high alanine aminotransferase activity ("transient responders"). The dosage of interferon was not predictive of the short-term and the long-term response to treatment. The responders differed significantly from the non-responders in terms of age, i.v. drug abuse, aspartate aminotransferase, gammaglutamyltranspeptidase and alkaline phosphatase activities, bilirubinemia, serum bile acid concentrations, prothrombin time, platelet count, ferritinemia, hyaluronic acid levels, positivity for the antibody to 5.1.1 of the recombinant immunoblot assay band and the histological fibrosis score. The following parameters were independently correlated with the short-term response in a multivariate analysis: gammaglutamyltranspeptidase activity, serum bile acid concentrations and positivity for the antibody to 5.1.1 of the recombinant immunoblot assay band.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Factors predictive of the response to interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis C. 796 8

Serum transaminase levels (serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase or serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase) were found to be altered in 40 (21.39%) of 187 patients with oral lichen planus. The patients with oral lichen planus who had altered transaminase levels were on average older than those without liver disorders and exhibited a higher percentage of erosive lesions (p < 0.05) and tongue involvement. Histologically, no statistically significant differences were noted in the extension of inflammatory infiltration or in connective tissue density; nevertheless, the latter was greater in patients without altered transaminase levels. Finally, among those patients with altered liver test results and erosive lichen planus, serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase and serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase levels were found to be higher than levels in those patients without erosions. This indicates that behavior of the oral lesions is more aggressive as the degree of liver alteration increases. We emphasize that of the 40 patients with altered transaminase levels (all later proved to reflect chronic hepatitis through complementary diagnostic methods), 28 had hepatitis C virus infection.
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PMID:Oral lichen planus and chronic liver disease: a clinical and morphometric study of the oral lesions in relation to transaminase elevation. 762 Oct 1

In 37 patients with chronic hepatitis B in the stage of active viral replication the authors tried to assess the time of seroconversion of HBeAg to anti-HBe and HBsAg to anti-HBs (21 men, 13 women and 3 boys, mean age of adults 44 years). During the 8-years investigation period seroconversion of HBeAg occurred in 19 of 37 patients (51.3%) which is an annual rate of seroconversion 6.4%. HBeAg disappeared from serum after a mean period of 82 months (range 29-228 months). After seroconversion of HBeAg the ALT and AST activity declined significantly. Acute exacerbation of hepatitis before seroconversion of HBeAg was recorded in 13 of 37 patients (35%). The mean ALT activity at the peak of exacerbation was 7.93 mu kat/l, the average duration of exacerbation was 9.8 months. Seroconversion of HBsAg occurred in 7 of 37 patients (19%). The mean annual rate of seroconversion of HBsAg was 2.4% after an average period of 98 months. During the investigation period 7 patients died (19%), four of them had a constantly positive HBeAg. The authors conclude that very low annual average seroconversion of HBeAg (6.4%) and HBsAg (2.4%) in patients with chronic hepatitis B is probably caused by previous glucocorticoid treatment.
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PMID:Prevalence of HBeAg and HBsAg seroconversion in patients with chronic hepatitis B. 799 18

To investigate the correlation between the replication of hepatitis C virus in liver and the clinical and histopathological features, we detected and quantified plus and minus strands of HCV-RNA in plasma and in livers of patients with chronic hepatitis C by a quantitative polymerase chain reaction. RNA was extracted from the plasma and liver tissue of ten patients with biopsy-proven chronic hepatitis C. The plus and minus strands of HCV-RNA were detected by a strand-specific reverse transcription with either sense or anti-sense oligonucleotide primers deduced from the hepatitis C virus genome, and a standard HCV-RNA with an enzyme restriction site was used to quantify the amount of HCV-RNA. Both plus and minus strands of HCV-RNA were detected from the liver tissue of all patients included. The amount of plus-stranded HCV-RNA in the liver was 10 times higher than that of minus-stranded HCV-RNA. Plus-stranded HCV-RNA was detected in the plasma in all patients, while the minus strand was not detected in any patient. There was a weak correlation between the amount of both strands of HCV-RNA in the liver and that of the plus strand in plasma. There was no significant correlation between the amount of liver HCV-RNA and serum alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase levels, or histopathological findings in the liver. The present method of detecting and quantifying liver HCV-RNA is simple and sensitive; it may be used to detect residual hepatitis C virus replication after the disappearance of plasma HCV-RNA in acute hepatitis or in chronic hepatitis after interferon treatment.
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PMID:Detection and quantification of hepatitis C virus RNA replication in the liver. 807 34

To study the influence of chronic hepatitis on intercellular adhesion molecule-1 serum concentration, we measured intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in the serum of 84 patients with chronic liver disease (17 chronic persistent hepatitis, 42 chronic active hepatitis and 25 active cirrhosis) caused by hepatitis B virus (n = 46), hepatitis C virus (n = 10) and autoimmunity (n = 28). Furthermore, 20 patients with acute viral hepatitis (16 hepatitis B virus and 4 hepatitis A virus) and 6 patients with acute drug-induced hepatitis were included. Sera from 20 healthy persons were used as control. Follow-up examinations were performed during immunosuppressive therapy in 20 patients with autoimmune chronic liver disease (13 chronic active hepatitis and 7 active cirrhosis). Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 serum concentration was significantly increased in patients with acute viral hepatitis, drug-induced hepatitis, chronic active hepatitis and active cirrhosis compared with healthy controls and with patients with chronic persistent hepatitis. Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 was also significantly increased in severe chronic active hepatitis and active cirrhosis compared with moderate chronic active hepatitis and moderate active cirrhosis. Serum concentration of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 decreased significantly in patients with autoimmune chronic liver disease after 2 mo of immunosuppression when remission was present. A close correlation between aspartate aminotransferase and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 serum levels was found. We conclude the following: (a) in chronic liver disease intercellular adhesion molecule-1 serum concentration may represent, at least in part, hepatocellular damage; and (b) intercellular adhesion molecule-1 serum level does not differentiate between chronic autoimmune and chronic viral hepatitis.
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PMID:Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 concentration in sera of patients with acute and chronic liver disease: relationship to disease activity and cirrhosis. 810 56

In serum of patients with chronic hepatitis B (HB) in the stage of active viral replication HBsAg/IgM complexes were detected. Using a commercial kit AU-IGM-K Sorin Biomedica HBsAg/IgM complexes in 136 patients with chronic HB and cirrhosis of the liver were examined, incl. 89 men, 42 women and 5 children, mean age 48 +/- 17 years. With regard to the results of the serological examination for HB virus (HBV) markers the results in 54 patients with positive HBeAg and HBsAg in serum (group 1) were compared with 68 patients with positive HBsAg only (group 2) and with 14 patients with positive antibodies against HBV or unrelated to HBV (group 3). The mean positivity index of HBsAg/IgM complexes in group 1, 2 and 3 was 9.89, 1.85 and 0.50, respectively. The results suggest a significant predominance of HBsAg/IgM complexes in patients during the stage of active viral replication with positive HBeAg in serum, as compared with patients without HBeAg (p = 0.001) and the control group (p = 0.001). A similar significant difference between groups was found as regards to ALT and AST activities. We conclude that in patients with chronic HBeAg positive hepatitis and a moderately elevated transaminase activity usually also HBsAg/IgM complexes, which are closely correlated with HBeAg, are positive.
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PMID:Clinical importance of assessment of HBsAg/IgM complexes in chronic hepatitis B. 810 61

Methotrexate (MTX) has become an important drug in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The American College of Rheumatology convened a committee to assess the risks of development of clinically significant liver disease (CSLD) during MTX treatment, to evaluate the risk and role of surveillance liver biopsies, and to provide recommendations about monitoring patients for liver toxicity. The committee recommends obtaining liver blood tests (alanine aminotransferase [ALT], aspartate aminotransferase [AST], alkaline phosphatase, albumin, bilirubin), hepatitis B and C serologic studies, and other standard tests including complete blood cell count and serum creatinine tests prior to starting treatment with MTX. A pretreatment liver biopsy should be considered only for patients with a history of prior excessive alcohol consumption, persistently abnormal baseline AST values, or chronic hepatitis B or C infection. At intervals of every 4-8 weeks the AST, ALT, and albumin levels should be monitored. Routine surveillance liver biopsies are not recommended for RA patients receiving traditional doses of MTX. However, a biopsy should be performed if a patient develops persistent abnormalities on liver blood tests. These are defined as elevations (above the upper limit of laboratory normal) in the AST in 5 of 9 determinations within a given 12-month interval (6 of 12 if tests are performed monthly) or a decrease in serum albumin below the normal range. The recommendations for monitoring and selection of patients for liver biopsy identify patients at potential risk for CSLD, and thus significantly reduce the number or patients who would be exposed to this procedure. Close monitoring is essential to reduce the risk of unrecognized serious liver disease. These recommendations should be revised as necessary to reflect new and compelling information.
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PMID:Methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis. Suggested guidelines for monitoring liver toxicity. American College of Rheumatology. 798 33

Interferon-alpha induces remission in 30% to 40% of patients with chronic hepatitis B, but its effect on hepatic connective tissue turnover has not been well documented. We studied the changes in serum procollagen III propeptide and laminin-P1 peptide (Lam-P1) in 33 patients with chronic hepatitis B (11 nontreated controls and 22 treated patients) during a 4-mo randomized trial of interferon-alpha. Liver biopsy specimens were obtained at the start of treatment and 12 mo later. Liver biochemical tests, procollagen III propeptide, laminin-P1 peptide and hepatitis B virus DNA polymerase were determined before treatment with interferon was begun (mo -3), at the initiation (0 time) and completion of treatment (mo 4) and also at 8, 12 and 18 mo. Treated patients were classified as "responders" and "nonresponders" on the basis of clearance of HBV e antigen from serum. There were no significant changes in the control group, whereas the responders had persistent decreases in ALT, AST, hepatitis B virus dna polymerase, procollagen III propeptide and laminin-P1 peptide. The nonresponders had transient ALT, AST and hepatitis B virus dna polymerase reductions that returned toward baseline levels during follow-up, but procollagen III propeptide and laminin-P1 peptide persisted below the baseline at mo 18. Significant correlations between procollagen III propeptide and laminin-P1 peptide with ALT, AST and liver histologic specimens were noted at baseline but not after 12 mo. Changes in procollagen III propeptide levels also correlated with changes in AST, ALT and liver histologic specimens.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Decrease in serum levels of markers of hepatic connective tissue turnover during and after treatment of chronic hepatitis B with interferon-alpha. 813 56


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