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

Interferon (IFN) therapy is of proven efficacy in chronic hepatitis C, but it is not universally effective and is often limited by side effects. Cyclosporine A (CsA) is a potent immunosuppressant widely used in organ transplantation. We conducted a pilot study to determine whether CsA therapy could affect aminotransferase activity and hepatitis C virus RNA levels in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Cyclosporine A was administered to 10 patients (mean age of 59 years; male:female = 9:1) who did not respond to IFN therapy previously and who had elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) values for at least 6 months. All patients were positive for HCV-RNA by RT-PCR with genotype 1b. Their mean duration of hepatitis was 15 years. Oral CsA was given for 3 months in a dose that was increased at 1 month intervals from 1.5-2.0 to 2.0-3.0 and 3.0-4.0 mg/kg per day. All patients completed the treatment schedule, although two patients developed mild non-symptomatic hypertension. Serum ALT levels gradually decreased in all but one patient. The mean percentage decrease was 59.5% at the end of therapy (from 153 +/- 82 to 62 +/- 48 IU/L; P < 0.02). The ALT levels fell to the normal range in five patients, although once therapy was discontinued the enzyme levels tended to return to pretreatment levels. Serum aspartate aminotransferase and g-glutamyl transpeptidase levels similarly decreased. The serum HCV-RNA titre, determined by competitive RT-PCR, did not change in any patient throughout the study period. There were no appreciable alterations in other laboratory tests, such as serum creatinine levels and lymphocyte subsets, except for an increase in serum alkaline phosphatase levels. These findings suggest that CsA, even in a relatively low dose, reduces serum aminotransferase levels without serious side effects in patients with chronic hepatitis C, although an antiviral effect was not noted.
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PMID:Cyclosporine therapy affects aminotransferase activity but not hepatitis C virus RNA levels in chronic hepatitis C. 907 26

In a pilot study we investigated the effect of ursodeoxycholic acid therapy in 11 patients (mean age 45.8 +/- 13.2 years) with chronic active, ANA- and/or SMA-positive autoimmune hepatitis of moderate severity. All patients were clinical asymptomatic and no indication for immunosuppressive therapy could be established in any patient. After a washout period of at least 3 months, the treatment was administrated with 500 mg ursodeoxycholic acid twice daily. A statistically significant improvement in all important hepatic parameters was achieved within 3 months of therapy. No further improvement could be observed once 6 months had elapsed. Significant decreases of SGOT (29.9 +/- 20.2 vs 17.7 +/- 7.1 U/l, p = 0.020), SGPT (43.8 +/- 31.0 vs. 19.6 +/- 6.7 U/l, p = 0.0012), GLDH (20.1 +/- 20.9 vs. 5.2 +/- 2.6 U/l, p = 0.0001) und gamma-GT (152.0 +/- 124.8 vs. 60.6 +/- 49.2 U/l, p = 0.0064) were observed during treatment. Despite tendential improvement, serum biliruhin, levels (18.2 +/- 9.4 vs. 16.9 +/- 9.4 mumol/l, p = 0.287) did not change significantly during treatment. Ursodeoxycholic acid may be beneficial in altering the natural course of chronic active hepatitis and of value in preventing mild attacks of immune hepatitis. The simple fact that ursodeoxycholic acid administration is essentially free of side-effects can go a long way towards justifying further clinically controlled studies.
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PMID:[Positive effect of ursodeoxycholic acid on liver enzymes in autoimmune hepatitis with little activity--a pilot study]. 908 12

The association between the actual status of cryoglobulins (CGs) expression in hepatitis C-related chronic liver disease (C-CLD) and different types of liver pathology, HCV-RNA titers and genotypes was investigated. Sixteen out of 1340 ordinary clinical specimens were CGs-positive (1%), and in 8 of them (50%) the patients blood was HCV-RNA positive. CGs was detected in 63% of C-CLD patients as a whole, but when compared with the histological findings in the liver, it was 88% in F3, and 92% in A3, and thus high percentages were detected in patients with progression of liver fibrosis and patients with strong activity. Serum IgG, IgM, transaminase and gamma-GTP levels were significantly higher in the patients with CGs, and their RA test and C3dCIC levels tended to be higher, but the differences were not significant, and no association was found with the anti-nuclear antibody positive level, or the HCV-RNA titers or genotypes. Based on the above, there was a clear involvement of HCV infection, especially the activity and histological progression of hepatitis in CGs formation in Japan as well, but there were few extrahepatic manifestations, suggesting differences in CGS levels and immune response to CGs from cases in Western countries.
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PMID:[Cryoglobulinemia associated with hepatitis C-related chronic liver disease in Japan]. 913 80

A 57 year-old woman was seen after a three-week period of upper abdominal pain, nausea, fever, headache and exertional dyspnoea. Laboratory examination showed an elevated ESR and serum gamma-GT activity. The chest X-ray showed cardiomegaly resulting from a pericardial effusion as was demonstrated by echocardiography. An abdominal CT-scan disclosed multiple hypodense lesions in the liver and spleen and lymphadenopathy along the hepatoduodenal ligament. Liver biopsy showed a necrotising granulomatous hepatitis. A recent infection with Bartonella, presumably B. henselae, was demonstrated serologically. The patient was treated with clarithromycin and recovered.
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PMID:[Visceral granulomas and pericardial effusion caused by a Bartonella henselae infection]. 915

A 68-year-old man with moderate liver dysfunction diagnosed with atypical pneumonia showed serum alanine aminotransferase and gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase levels which revealed a sustained abnormality over six months. Hepatitis GB virus type C/hepatitis G virus demonstrated in his serum by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Liver histology showed steatohepatitis typically observed in alcoholic hepatitis without a remarkable drinking history. This case suggests that hepatitis GB virus type C/hepatitis G virus may induce chronic hepatitis and that there may be cases with chronic hepatitis induced by this virus in patients who have been diagnosed with alcoholic liver disease, even in cases with typical histology of alcoholic hepatitis.
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PMID:Chronic hepatitis infected with hepatitis GB virus type C/hepatitis G virus presenting as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. 918 58

To study prevalence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in patients with viral hepatitis and its clinical characteristics, serum anti-CMV-IgM was detected in 6411 hospitalized hepatitis cases, and clinical symptoms, signs and liver function in 115 cases with CMV infection were compared with 192 cases of non-CMV infection. Results showed a CMV infection rate of 1.79% in them with an average age of 33.6 years, a sex ratio of 2.13, and dual superinfection with CMV and hepatitis accounting for 44.74%, and triple and quadruple superinfection for 47.37% and 7.89%, respectively. Proportion of those with fever, digestive symptoms, hepatomegaly, changes of gallbladder in ultra sound scan, rising activities of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (gamma-GT) were more, and duration of hospitalization longer in the cases with CMV infection. It suggests that CMV can be found in the cases with viral hepatitis, most in a form of dual or multiple infection, and it can aggravate hepatitis.
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PMID:[An analysis of CMV infection in 115 cases with viral hepatitis]. 920 27

The toxicological correlation between blood biochemical parameters and liver histopathological findings was summarized mainly in rats and dogs on the basis of our experiments and published papers. In rats and dogs with hepatocytic necrosis, GPT and GOT increased with a good correlation to necrotic severity. In dogs with cholestasis, ALP, gamma-GTP, T.BIL and BSP retention rates increased. In mixed types of hepatitis or cholestasis and hepatic necrosis, GPT, GOT and ALP increased in rats and dogs and additionally gamma-GTP and BSP retention rates increased in dogs. In hepatic steatosis, CHOL and TRIG decreased in rats and dogs. In hepatic injury due to accumulation of foreign materials or cell components and sinusoidal cell injury, no specific correlation with biochemical parameters was noted.
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PMID:Toxicological correlation between changes in blood biochemical parameters and liver histopathological findings. 927 20

Recently, hepatitis GB virus C (HGBV-C) has been recovered from patients with non-A-E hepatitis. However, it has been unclear whether HGBV-C may be related to the development of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) or not. In this study, we determined HGBV-C RNA in sera from alcoholic patients without markers for hepatitis C and B viruses to evaluate the role of HGBV-C in ALD. Serum samples were obtained from 68 patients with ALD and 40 nonalcoholic patients with chronic type C liver disease. HGBV-C RNA was detected in only 3 of 68 (4.4%) patients with ALD, in 2 of 27 patients with hepatic fibrosis, and in 1 of 5 patients with chronic hepatitis. There was no HGBV-C RNA in sera from patients with fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, or cirrhosis. Serum levels of AST, ALT, and gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase in alcoholic patients with, as well as without, HGBV-C RNA decreased to normal levels after abstinence. In addition, an inflammatory change was not observed in liver biopsy specimens obtained from two HGBV-C-positive patients with alcoholic hepatic fibrosis. Our results clearly suggest that the prevalence of HGBV-C infection in patients with ALD is rare and that HGBV-C may not play an important role in the development of liver disease in alcoholics.
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PMID:Clinical significance of hepatitis GB virus C infection in alcoholic liver disease. 943 37

The serum concentrations of CA19-9 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were measured in 150 consecutive patients with histologically proven liver disease admitted to a liver unit for transplant assessment. A significant proportion of the cases studied had a CA19-9 above the upper limit of the reference range (35 kU/L): alcoholic liver disease (73%), primary sclerosing cholangitis (61%), primary biliary cirrhosis (60%), chronic hepatitis B (71%), chronic hepatitis C (84%), autoimmune hepatitis (36%) and hepatocellular carcinoma (54%). CEA was only elevated in a small proportion of the patients with benign liver disease and the degree of elevation was small (15-37 micrograms/L). Significantly raised CEA was observed in two patients (15%) with hepatocellular carcinoma. Statistically significant correlations were observed between the serum CA19-9 concentration and standard parameters of liver dysfunction: positive correlations with aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and bilirubin and negative correlations with albumin and gamma-glutamyltransferase. Positive relationships were also observed between CA19-9 and both CEA and creatinine. Both increased production of CA19-9 from biliary epithelial cells and decreased clearance due to cholestasis may be contributing to the elevation of CA19-9 in the bloodstream. Our data indicate that caution is needed in the interpretation of CA19-9 results in the presence of liver dysfunction.
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PMID:The effect of benign and malignant liver disease on the tumour markers CA19-9 and CEA. 946 46

Overlap syndromes between cholestatic autoimmune chronic hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis are being increasingly discussed. The diagnosis depends particularly on the pattern of serum autoantibodies, whether suggestive of one condition or the other. The autoantibodies have an important diagnostic role, but their contribution in mediating bile duct and hepatocellular injury is uncertain. In this report, five patients (three women and two men) are described with hepatic histologic features resembling primary biliary cirrhosis but with negative results for serum antimitochondrial antibody (M2) tests. Serum antinuclear antibody of diffuse type is strongly positive. The serum transaminase levels are 4 to 6 times the upper limit of normal, and serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase values are substantially increased. The response to prednisolone therapy is partial: inflammation is reduced, but the serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase level remains high and bile duct lesions persist. This condition, which is an overlap between primary biliary cirrhosis and autoimmune hepatitis, has been termed "autoimmune cholangitis." Treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid is recommended, and prednisolone therapy may be considered even though beneficial results have not been impressive.
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PMID:Ludwig Symposium on biliary disorders. Autoimmune cholangitis: a unique entity? 947 4


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