Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0019163 (hepatitis B)
 38,309 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Between July 1986 and April 1989, 334 hospitalized adult Ethiopian patients with chronic liver disease were studied according to a protocol to define their clinical features and to identify risk factors with the aim of preventive intervention. Of these, 14 had chronic hepatitis, 208 cirrhosis and 112 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Both clinical and histological diagnostic criteria were employed. A detailed questionnaire was used to document demographic and clinical data. A common clinical presentation among patients with chronic hepatitis was darkening of the face and hands with or without hypertrichosis of the face and blisters over the dorsi of the hands. This overt or latent form of porphyrea cutanea tarda (PCT) responds to chloroquine. Patients with cirrhosis of the liver commonly present for the first time with ascites, splenomegaly, haematemesis and/or melena from oesophageal varices, and mental changes due to hepatic encephalopathy. Overt or latent forms of PCT are also common features. Peculiar to these cirrhotics is the rarity of spider naevi, gynaecomastia, testicular atrophy, Dupuytren's contracture, parotid gland enlargement and clubbing of the fingers. Exhaustion, loss of appetite, rapid loss of weight, right upper quadrant and/or epigastric pain (all often of less than 6 months' duration, a big, hard, tender and grossly nodular liver with bruit, signs of portal hypertension, and/or hepatic encephalopathy, in a young male with a rapid down hill course characterize the Ethiopian patient with HCC. Serum anti-nuclear factor, anti-mitochondrial anti-bodies and anti-smooth muscle anti-bodies were absent in those with chronic hepatitis and were uncommon in the cirrhotics and HCC cases. One or more hepatitis B virus markers were found in 86% of chronic hepatitis, 88% cirrhosis and 78% HCC and the HBsAg carrier state was found in 36%, 29% and 23%, respectively. Among the HBsAg carriers, HBeAg positivity was less common than anti-HBe but anti-HDV was significantly higher than in the healthy general population. Alphafetoprotein (AFP) levels greater than 500 mg/ml were present in 16 (8%) cirrhotics and 58 (52%) patients with HCC. Histologically, 3 of the chronic hepatitis patients had progressed to cirrhosis, 8 of the cirrhotic patients had chronic active hepatitis and 85% of HCC cases occurred in a background of macronodular cirrhosis. Three cirrhotics developed HCC during follow-up.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Chronic liver disease in Ethiopia: a clinical study with emphasis on identifying common causes. 131

Hepatitis B virus core (HBc) protein has been proved to be an attractive carrier for foreign epitopes, and can display green fluorescent protein (GFP) on its surface. The structure of substrate-binding domain of DnaK [DnaK (394-504 aa), DnaK SBD] is similar to GFP, we therefore reasoned that DnaK SBD might also be tolerated. Electron microscopic observations suggested that the chimeric proteins containing the truncated HBc (HBcDelta) and DnaK SBD could self-assemble into virus-like particle (VLP). Then the accessibility of DnaK SBD and the adjuvanticity of VLP HBcDelta-SBD were demonstrated by two recombinant peptide vaccines against gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), GhM and GhMNR. The latter carries in addition the peptide motif NRLLLTG which is known to bind to DnaK and DnaK SBD. The combination of VLP HBcDelta-SBD and GhMNR elicited stronger humoral responses and caused further testicular atrophy than the combinations of VLP HBcDelta and GhMNR or VLP HBcDelta-SBD and GhM in Balb/c mice. These findings indicate VLP HBcDelta-SBD might serve as an excellent carrier for GhMNR and some other peptide vaccines.
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PMID:A novel virus-like particle based on hepatitis B core antigen and substrate-binding domain of bacterial molecular chaperone DnaK. 1977 18