Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0019158 (hepatitis)
 30,205 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Long-term administration of ethanol into animals within 1-6 months resulted in distinct alterations of blood serum fatty acid composition as well as in elevation of the saturation rate simultaneously with a decrease of fatty acid polyunsaturation. Calculated coefficients, which included ratios between fatty acid with various rates of unsaturation, were highly informative. Alterations of fatty acid composition in blood serum, registered during observations, reflected the state of fatty acid metabolism in tissues. Analysis of fatty acid spectrum in blood serum enabled to evaluate the severity of impairments in liver tissue and pancreas under conditions of alcohol intoxication: increase in the rate of phospholipid catabolism, in content of cholesterol, triglycerides and total lipids was observed both in blood serum and liver tissue. These impairments of lipid metabolism may produce alcohol hepatitis, which is the basis for liver tissue alcohol cirrhosis.
 ...
PMID:[Features of lipid metabolism impairment in chronic alcoholic intoxication]. 144 Dec 98

In the present study, we investigated the association between hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and hepatitis B virus infection (HBV), blood transfusion and drinking and smoking habits by comparing 124 HCC cases and 250 controls. We confirmed a very high relative risk (RR), i.e. 31.0 (P less than 0.001), among persons who were positive for serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). However, the prevalence of serum HBsAg positives among our cases was only 21%, about half of those reported earlier, indicating a role of other etiological factors. Those who have a history of blood transfusion showed a significantly elevated RR of 3.0 (P less than 0.001) or 4.9 (P less than 0.001), and most of them (85%) were non-carriers of HBV. Thus, the past history of blood transfusion is an important risk factor among the Japanese. Unidentified non-A, non-B hepatitis viruses in transfused blood probably play a significant role in causing HCC. We estimated that 15% of male HCCs were attributable to blood transfusion. A positive relationship between alcohol consumption and HCC was detected, particularly among HBsAg-negative subjects with no history of blood transfusion who had drunk heavily in their younger years. RR estimates were not great (e.g., heavy drinkers: 2.5), but a substantial proportion of HCC may be attributed to drinking because of common drinking habits among Japanese males. Smoking was also found to have a positive association, but the relationship at a young age was less clear, and further investigation is needed to clarify the etiological role of smoking.
 ...
PMID:Blood transfusion, alcohol consumption, and cigarette smoking in causation of hepatocellular carcinoma: a case-control study in Fukuoka, Japan. 284 91

Acute alcohol ingestion can affect life expectancy and is directly responsible for 3,500 deaths per year. Acute lung diseases are mainly caused by pneumococci, Gram negative bacilli and anaerobic germs, and are often due to multiple microbes. In this case, evolution toward abscess can be feared. Septicaemia and enterobacterial peritonitis are frequently observed in cirrhotic patients. Ethanol, hypokaliemia and hypophosphoraemia also lead to rhabdomyolysis. Rhabdomyolysis can be complicated with acute renal failure and hyperkaliaemia. Alcoholic ketoacidosis and the hypoglycaemia favored by prolonged inadequate nutrition, are corrected by infusion of glucose solutions. Hyponatraemia can be complicated by convulsions and central pontine myelinolysis. Minor forms of alcoholic hepatitis remiss after stopping alcohol intoxication. The major forms can evolve toward fatal encephalopathy; treatment with corticosteroids improves the prognosis in severe hepatitis. The cardiac failure with lactic acidosis in shoshin beriberi rapidly evolves to collapsus; treatment is based on emergency administration of vitamin B1. Management of patients in acute alcohol episodes requires great vigilance. Careful clinical examination and biological tests should eliminate severe somatic complications before concluding to simple alcoholic intoxication.
 ...
PMID:[Severe somatic complications of acute alcoholic intoxication]. 813 83

The concentration of ethanol in blood, breath or urine constitutes important evidence for prosecuting drunk drivers. For various reasons, the reliability of the results of forensic alcohol analysis are often challenged by the defence. One such argument for acquittal concerns the notion that alcohol could be produced naturally in the body, hence the term 'auto-brewery' syndrome. Although yeasts such as Candida albicans readily produce ethanol in-vitro, whether this happens to any measurable extent in healthy ambulatory subjects is an open question. Over the years, many determinations of endogenous ethanol have been made, and in a few rare instances (Japanese subjects with very serious yeast infections) an abnormally high ethanol concentration (> 80 mg/dl) has been reported. In these atypical individuals, endogenous ethanol appeared to have been produced after they had eaten carbohydrate-rich foods. A particular genetic polymorphism resulting in reduced activity of enzymes involved in hepatic metabolism of ethanol and a negligible first-pass metabolism might explain ethnic differences in rates of endogenous ethanol production and clearance. Other reports of finding abnormally high concentrations of ethanol in body fluids from ostensibly healthy subjects suffer from deficiencies in study design and lack suitable control experiments or used non-specific analytical methods. With reliable gas chromatographic methods of analysis, the concentrations of endogenous ethanol in peripheral venous blood of healthy individuals, as well as those suffering from various metabolic disorders (diabetes, hepatitis, cirrhosis) ranged from 0-0.08 mg/dl. These concentrations are far too low to have any forensic or medical significance. The notion that a motorist's state of intoxication was caused by endogenously produced ethanol lacks merit.
 ...
PMID:Endogenous ethanol 'auto-brewery syndrome' as a drunk-driving defence challenge. 1097 82

Chemokines are involved in the pathogenesis of alcoholic hepatitis and are considered to contribute to the migration of leukocytes into the liver during chronic ethanol intoxication. This work tests the hypothesis that chronic ethanol consumption selectively enhances chemokine release by Kupffer cells and hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells and migration of inflammatory cells into the liver. Furthermore, enhanced hepatic chemokine secretion may induce an autocrine effect on the ability of Kupffer cells and endothelial cells to chemotax and ingest microbial particles. Male Wistar rats were fed with ethanol in agar block and water for 32 weeks, and were allowed free access to solid food. Results show that after 32 weeks of feeding, leukocyte infiltration and steatosis were observed in the livers of ethanol-fed rats. The majority of the infiltrated cells were CD8+ cells. Serum ALT, endotoxin, MIP-1alpha, MCP-1 and RANTES, (but not CINC and MIP-2) were also increased in the ethanol-fed rats than in the pair-fed group. Isolated Kupffer cells from ethanol-fed rats were primed for enhanced MIP-1alpha, MCP-1, and RANTES production in vitro, while the endothelial cells were primed for enhanced MIP-1alpha release only. Chronic alcohol intoxication was also associated with increased basal H2O2 formation, enhanced nuclear translocation and binding of NF-kappaB, AP-1 and MNP-1 in Kupffer Cells. Chronic ethanol feeding significantly enhanced MNP-1 binding, but not those of NF-kappaB and AP-1 in endothelial cells. Concomitantly, chemokine-induced chemotaxis, E.coli phagocytosis and f-met-leu-phe-induced superoxide anion production by Kupffer cells were downregulated in the ethanol-fed group. Taken together these data demonstrate that prolonged alcohol consumption may compromise the host to hepatitis as a result of increased chemokine production and at the same time may suppress the innate immune function of hepatic non-parenchymal cells.
 ...
PMID:Chronic alcohol intoxication primes Kupffer cells and endothelial cells for enhanced CC-chemokine production and concomitantly suppresses phagocytosis and chemotaxis. 1204 6

The role of coffee in the aetiology of hepatocellular carcinoma has raised great interest. In Italy, coffee consumption is high, thus allowing the investigation of the topic over a broad range of consumption. A hospital-based case-control study was conducted in Italy in 1999-2002, including 185 incidents, histologically confirmed cases of hepatocellular carcinoma aged 43-84 years. Controls were 412 subjects admitted to the same hospitals' networks for acute, non-neoplastic diseases unrelated to diet. Coffee and tea consumption were assessed using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding the 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed using unconditional multiple logistic regression, adjusting for hepatitis viruses seropositivity, alcohol intake, smoking habits and other potential confounding factors. Compared to people who drunk <14 cups/week of coffee, the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma decreased for increasing levels of consumption (OR=0.4, 95% CI: 0.2-1.1 for >or=28 cups/week, p for trend = 0.02). In the present study, inverse relations were observed across strata of hepatitis C and, B virus infections and alcohol drinking. No significant association emerged with consumption of decaffeinated coffee (OR=0.7, 95% CI=0.2-2.5) or tea (OR=1.4, 95% CI=0.8-2.7). The present study supports the hypothesis of a favourable effect of coffee, though not decaffeinated coffee and tea, on the risk on hepatocellular carcinoma.
 ...
PMID:Coffee and tea consumption and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in Italy. 1720 31

A 66-year-old woman, given a diagnosis of alcoholic liver cirrhosis in 2004, had improved her liver function by abstinence from drinking. Since then, she has drunk 1 to 2 liters of Yakon tea per day. Her liver function deteriorated and T. Bil was 13.2mg/dl and AST was 291U/l in February 2005. Given the positive DLST for Yakon tea, Yakon tea-induced hepatitis was diagnosed. After cessation of the intake of the tea, her liver function gradually improved. Since there has been no report on Yakon induced hepatitis and it has been thought to be a safe supplement, we here report this intriguing case.
 ...
PMID:[Yakon tea induced hepatitis in a patient with alcoholic liver cirrhosis]. 1949 16

Numerous investigations have shown that mitochondrial dysfunction is a major mechanism of drug-induced liver injury, which involves the parent drug or a reactive metabolite generated through cytochromes P450. Depending of their nature and their severity, the mitochondrial alterations are able to induce mild to fulminant hepatic cytolysis and steatosis (lipid accumulation), which can have different clinical and pathological features. Microvesicular steatosis, a potentially severe liver lesion usually associated with liver failure and profound hypoglycemia, is due to a major inhibition of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation (FAO). Macrovacuolar steatosis, a relatively benign liver lesion in the short term, can be induced not only by a moderate reduction of mitochondrial FAO but also by an increased hepatic de novo lipid synthesis and a decreased secretion of VLDL-associated triglycerides. Moreover, recent investigations suggest that some drugs could favor lipid deposition in the liver through primary alterations of white adipose tissue (WAT) homeostasis. If the treatment is not interrupted, steatosis can evolve toward steatohepatitis, which is characterized not only by lipid accumulation but also by necroinflammation and fibrosis. Although the mechanisms involved in this aggravation are not fully characterized, it appears that overproduction of reactive oxygen species by the damaged mitochondria could play a salient role. Numerous factors could favor drug-induced mitochondrial and metabolic toxicity, such as the structure of the parent molecule, genetic predispositions (in particular those involving mitochondrial enzymes), alcohol intoxication, hepatitis virus C infection, and obesity. In obese and diabetic patients, some drugs may induce acute liver injury more frequently while others may worsen the pre-existent steatosis (or steatohepatitis).
 ...
PMID:Drug-induced toxicity on mitochondria and lipid metabolism: mechanistic diversity and deleterious consequences for the liver. 2114 49