Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound   Target Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound

---

Query: EC:2.6.1.2 (alanine aminotransferase)
26,722 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We determine the correlation between viremia in serum specimens, transaminase activity (ALT and AST) and histological grading in 37 patients with chronic hepatitis C. In addition we compared two PCR methods for hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA in serum specimens. For the histological grading we used a modified Knodell score. For detection and quantification we measured the viremia (HCV-RNA titer) with a standardized "nested primer" PCR (end-point dilution method) and the commercially available Amplicor HCV Monitor. The mean HCV-RNA and AST level was significantly higher in patients with a histologically active inflammation. In the individual patient we could not conclude from the titer of HCV-RNA on the histologic grading because of the wide range of the results. We did not find a significant difference in ALT in patients having varying histological gradings. HCV-RNA titer and transaminases (ALT and AST) did not correlate significantly. The HCV-RNA titer was significantly marked in older patients (above 40 years) and patients having sporadic hepatitis than in younger patients and patients with chronic hepatitis after drug abuse. The "nested primer" PCR (end-point dilution method) was more sensitive for detection of HCV-RNA in serum specimens than Amplicor HCV Monitor. The lack of HCV-RNA with Amplicor HCV Monitor in 12 of 37 patients (32%) did not rule out viremia. We conclude that in patients with a chronic hepatitis C marked viremia points to a histologically active inflammation. In the individual patient we could not conclude from the titer of HCV-RNA on the histological grading. Because of the lower sensitivity of Amplicor HCV Monitor it is necessary to confirm negative results with a "nested primer" PCR.
...
PMID:[Virus titre and histological inflammation activity in chronic hepatitis C]. 870 Dec 57

The genotype distribution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) was investigated in 212 viraemic blood donors from Hong Kong. A subset of the samples was investigated using three different genotyping assays to establish the accuracy of each in this population. These assays were restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of amplified 5' noncoding region (5'NCR) sequences, RFLP of the core region, and a serotyping assay using peptides from two antigenic regions of NS4. Genotypes detected in Hong Kong blood donors were 1a (6.2%), 1b (58.8%), 2a (1.4%), 2b (1.4%), 3a (1.9%), and 6a (27.0%). All genotyping assays produced concordant results. No evidence was obtained for the presence of type 6 group variants recently identified in Southeast Asia, other than type 6a. A serotyping assay based upon the detection of type-specific antibody to epitopes in NS4 produced similar results to the genotyping assays (98% concordance), but a reduced sensitivity (75%) compared with genotyping methods. Sequence variation in NS4 was not the cause of the reduced rate of detection of type 6 antibody in this population. Eighty-four percent donors infected with type 6a were male, compared to 75% donors infected with type 1b. The median alanine transaminase (ALT) level in type 6 infected donors was lower than in type 1b, (43.8 and 51.1 U/l, respectively) although these values were not statistically significant (P = 0.094). There was no significant difference between the ages of donors infected with types 1b and 6a. Risk factors for HCV infection in the blood donors included blood transfusion, intravenous drug abuse, and tattooing. A significantly greater number of donors infected with HCV-6a reported a history of drug abuse (66%) than donors infected with HCV-1b (7%).
...
PMID:Detection and clinical features of hepatitis C virus type 6 infections in blood donors from Hong Kong. 891 83

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes acute and often chronic hepatitis. On the basis of variations in nucleotide sequence, at least six genotypes and several subtypes have been identified. Histopathologically, chronic HCV infection is characterized by relatively mild hepatic inflammatory activity and a low degree of fibrosis, but hepatic lesions might be accompanied by bile duct damage, intraportal lymphoid aggregates, steatosis, or a combination of these manifestations. The histopathological lesions thus appear quite heterogeneous. To address the question of whether distinct histopathological manifestations are related to particular genotypes of HCV, 90 patients with chronic HCV infection were analyzed regarding histopathological features, biochemical liver parameters, demographic data, and virus genotype. The results revealed a significantly higher prevalence of both steatosis and bile duct lesions among patients infected by HCV type 3a compared to patients infected by types 1a or 1b. Furthermore, the data suggest interrelationships between virus genotype, patient's age, and a history of intravenous drug abuse. However, none of the histopathological manifestations were found to be related to a history of drug abuse. The data further corroborate the relationship of HCV type 1b infection to age, duration of disease, and the degree of fibrosis, respectively. Irrespective of HCV genotype, elevated serum ALT activity was shown to be associated with pronounced inflammatory activity or pronounced steatosis as well. Thus, the current data support the hypothesis that distinct genotypes of HCV appear to be associated with distinct manifestations of disease.
...
PMID:Analysis of histopathological manifestations of chronic hepatitis C virus infection with respect to virus genotype. 904 27

The aims of this study were the following: 1) to estimate the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody (anti-HCV) in a population-based survey of French residents not selected for risk factors; 2) to investigate the association between anti-HCV seropositivity, viremia, the infecting HCV genotype, and the alanine transaminase (ALT) level; and 3) to identify risk factors for HCV infection by a nested case control study within this survey sample. The anti-HCV seroprevalence survey was performed in 6,283 volunteers (20- to 59-years-old) randomly selected from 45,377 consecutive individuals undergoing routine medical checkup in social security medical centers covering 4 of the 22 "regions" of France. Seventy-two volunteers were anti-HCV positive, a crude prevalence of 1.15%. Fifty percent of these positive volunteers also had an abnormal ALT level and 81% were HCV-RNA positive by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The prevalence weighted for age, sex, and place of residence was 1.05% (95% CI: 0.75-1.34). The weighted prevalence was lower among men > 40-years-old (0.5%; 95% CI: 0.1-1.0) and was close to 1% in all other age and sex groups. Prevalence was inversely correlated with socioprofessional status with the highest rate being found among those with no paid employment (2.2%; 95% CI: 1.3-3.0). The HCV prevalence (1.7%; 95% CI: 1.0-2.3) was highest in southeastern France. Seventy-eight percent of positive intervenous (I.V.) drug abusers were infected with HCV genotypes 1a or 3, whereas 80% of the transfusion-associated cases were infected by HCV genotypes 1b or 2a. Only three variables were significantly associated with HCV seropositivity in multivariate analysis: I.V. drug abuse (21 cases, 14 men all < 40-years-old), previous transfusion (22 cases, 18 women), and not having paid employment. Although routes of transmission other than I.V. drug abuse and transfusion may not be formally excluded they were not found to be statistically significant. Hepatitis C appears to be a major public health concern in France. A more active screening policy may be required because only 17 of 72 cases (24%) were aware of their HCV seropositivity before enrollment in the study.
...
PMID:Hepatitis C in a French population-based survey, 1994: seroprevalence, frequency of viremia, genotype distribution, and risk factors. The Collaborative Study Group. 918 73

To identify correlations between the distribution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes and demographic, pathological and virological parameters of HCV-infected patients, we prospectively recruited 650 patients with biopsy-proven chronic hepatitis C without histological aspects of cirrhosis; none had been treated with antiviral therapy. Data regarding gender, age, mode of HCV transmission, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and HCV RNA levels, immunoglobulin M (IgM) anticore values, liver histology and histological activity were obtained from each patient and correlated on multivariate analysis with infecting HCV genotype. Fifty-five per cent of the patients were infected with HCV genotype 1, 20% with HCV genotype 2, 18% with HCV genotype 3 and 7% with HCV genotype 4. Non-transfusional HCV transmission, low ALT levels, IgM anticore reactivity and a low histological grading score were independent variables associated with HCV genotype 1. Older age, female gender, post-transfusional transmission and a high histological grading score were related to HCV genotype 2, whilst younger age, history of current/previous drug abuse, high ALT values, low IgM anticore reactivity and high viraemic levels were associated with HCV genotype 3. History of illicit use of intravenous drugs and low HCV RNA levels were the only independent variables correlated with HCV genotype 4. Genotype 1 remains predominant in Italy but the prevalence of HCV genotypes is changing in relation to age and mode of transmission: Italian patients with HCV genotype 3 are younger and exhibit higher levels of ALT and HCV RNA than patients with other genotypes.
...
PMID:Hepatitis C virus genotypes in a non-cirrhotic Italian population with chronic hepatitis C: correlation with clinical, virological and histological parameters. Results of a prospective multicentre study. 1076 42

In patients with chronic hepatitis C and HIV infection, responsiveness to the standard schedule of alpha-interferon (IFN) is unsatisfactory. To quantify the effectiveness of tailoring IFN dosage according to HCV viral load under treatment, we enrolled 41 patients (M/F 32/9) chronically coinfected by HCV and HIV with chronic liver disease. All were former i.v. drug addicts, with a mean age of 32+/-4 years, and had clinical and histological evidence of chronic hepatitis (10% with cirrhosis). The CDC stage was A1 in five, A2 in 14, A3 in eight, B2 in eight, B3 in three and C3 in three. Twenty four patients were on triple therapy with protease inhibitors, 11 were on two-drug anti-HIV regimens and three were untreated. IFN (alphan1 interferon) was started at 3 MU tiw and increased at 6 MU tiw at 4 weeks if serum HCV-RNA had not dropped by at least 50%. IFN was stopped at 24 weeks in non-responders. Eleven patients received a dose increase (total IFN dose at 24 weeks 396 MU), while 16 did not increase the initial dose (total IFN dose at 24 weeks 216 MU). Fourteen subjects stopped within the first weeks due to relapse of drug abuse (ten) or subjective intolerance (four). ALT and HCV-RNA levels were markedly decreased at week 4, and this reduction lasted up to 24 weeks. However only one patient had a complete biochemical and virological end-of-treatment response, which was maintained over a 24 weeks post-therapy follow-up. All other patients relapsed to baseline ALT and HCV-RNA values after stopping IFN. HIV viral load was slightly reduced under IFN therapy, while CD4 counts were unaffected. We conclude that raising the dose of IFN dose not eradicate HCV in most HIV-infected patients, even when HIV is well controlled by treatment. HCV viraemia and necroinflammation are temporarily suppressed by IFN, but the relevance of these surrogate endpoints to progression of liver disease and to survival cannot be assessed.
...
PMID:Response-adjusted alpha-interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis C in HIV-infected patients. 1109 Oct 68

One hundred twenty-six mother-infant couples were studied and 105 exposed babies were monitored for at least 12 months to define the risk of mother-to-infant HCV transmission. Infection occurred in 5 out of 76 infants (6.6%) born to 69 viraemic mothers and in none of 29 born to 26 non-viraemic mothers. Only one child was HCV RNA positive one month after birth, while the remaining children became positive at the 3rd to 4th month. HCV genotypes of the babies matched those of their mothers. No difference was found between women who transmitted the virus and those who did not with regard to age, history of drug abuse, HIV infection, ALT abnormal values, HCV genotype, type of delivery, and breast-feeding. Four out of 5 infected infants were born to mothers with IgM anti-HCV (P = 0.04). The mean viral titre in transmitting women (10(7.2)) was higher than in non-transmitting (10(6.5)), and the proportion of mothers with viral load > or = 10(7) was statistically higher in transmitting than non-transmitting women (P = 0.03). These data show that HCV perinatal infection is a rare event and suggest that IgM positivity and high viral load (> or = 10(7)) in the mother are independent variables correlated with HCV transmission (O.R. = 14.5; 95% CI: 1.3-160.7 and O.R. = 16.3; 95% CI: 1.5-179.9, respectively).
...
PMID:Mother-to-infant transmission of hepatitis C virus: rate of infection and assessment of viral load and IgM anti-HCV as risk factors. 1199 74

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate, during a short period between 2000 and 2001, in a large population of patients with chronic hepatitis C, the epidemiological characteristics of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes in France. Data from 26 referral centres, corresponding to 1769 patients with chronic hepatitis C were collected consecutively during a 6-month period. HCV genotyping in the 5'-non-coding region (NCR) was performed in each center using the line probe assay (LiPA, in 63% of cases), sequencing (25%) or primer-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (12%). HCV genotypes 1a, 1b, 2, 3, 4, 5, non-subtyped 1 and mixed infection were found in 18, 27, 9, 21, 9, 3, 11 and 1% of our population, respectively. HCV genotype distribution was associated with gender, age, source and duration of infection, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, cirrhosis, alcohol consumption, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection. In multivariate analysis, only the source of infection was the independent factor significantly associated with genotype (P = 0.0001). In conclusion, this study shows a changing pattern of HCV genotypes in France, with i.v. drug abuse as the major risk factor, an increase of genotype 4, and to a lesser extent 1a and 5, and a decrease of genotypes 1b and 2. The modification of the HCV genotype pattern in France in the next 10 years may require new therapeutic strategies, and further survey studies.
...
PMID:Changing of hepatitis C virus genotype patterns in France at the beginning of the third millenium: The GEMHEP GenoCII Study. 1598 12

We retrospectively evaluated 73 immunocompetent adult patients assisted at our Infectious Diseases Clinic between March 1999 and March 2004 who presented fever and asthenia, mild to moderate increase of transaminases and serological findings compatible with recent cytomegalovirus infection. We excluded patients with a history of transfusions, drug abuse, immunodeficiencies, preexistent hepatic impairment or serological findings compatible with acute hepatitis A, B and C (HAV, HBV, HCV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The laboratory diagnosis of recent cytomegalovirus infection was made by especific IgM detection (ELISA) or a significant increase of specific IgG. The most frequent symptoms were fever (85%) and asthenia (83%), followed by cephalea (25%), splenomegaly (20%), adenomegalies (22%), pharyngitis (25%), myalgias (25%) and hepatomegaly (19%). All the patients showed moderate increase of transaminases and lymphomonocytosis (73/73). In average, ALT was increased by 6 fold and AST by 3.5 fold. The clinical characteristics that differentiate CMV infection from Epstein-Barr infection are the lesser frequency of adenomegalies and pharyngitis in the former. The differential diagnosis of CMV infection with hepatic involvement from acute hepatitis A and B, is based on the absence of jaundice, the lower elevation of transaminases, the intense lymphomonocytosis and the presence of specific IgM against CMV that are characteristic of CMV infection. In conclusion, in previously healthy young adults with fever, intense asthenia, lymphomonocytosis and moderate increase in transaminases levels, cytomegalovirus infection should be investigated.
...
PMID:[Cytomegalovirus infection with hepatic involvement in immunocompetent adults]. 1687 6

The organ shortage has driven many transplant centers to accept extended donor criteria and to modify graft allocation policies. This study was designed to analyze the impact of applying extended donor criteria (EDC) in orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Between December 2001 and December 2004, we performed 165 primary cadaveric whole OLTs. Up to three EDC, that is, ventilation >7 days; aminotransferases (ALT or AST) >3 x normal; bilirubin >3 mg/dL; anti-HBc or HBs Ag positivity; donor age >65 years; liver steatosis >40%; donor body mass index >30; cold ischemia time >14 hours; peak serum Na(+) >165 mmol/L; history of extrahepatic malignancy; or previous drug abuse were present in 55% of all grafts. Both univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that EDC status had no effect on graft or patient survival, the necessity for retransplantation, the length of intensive care/intermediate care unit stay, mechanical ventilation, complications, or posttransplant laboratory findings. Recipient age of >/=55 years was the only independent prognostic factor for survival, regardless of EDC. These findings suggested that the use of grafts from EDC donors are safe and expand the donor pool.
...
PMID:Extended donor criteria have no negative impact on early outcome after liver transplantation: a single-center multivariate analysis. 1736 74


<< Previous 1 2 3 Next >>

---