Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0019204 (hepatocellular carcinoma)
 71,386 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Liver necropsy from patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus was analyzed in 117 cases. Wide ranges of opportunistic infections were recorded in 47%. Cryptococcosis (21.4%) was the most outstanding infection, followed by tuberculosis (16.2%), cytomegalovirus (5.1%) and penicillosis (3.4%). Non-specific alterations of the liver tissues included fatty steatosis (49.6%), fibrosis (55.6%), portal inflammation and reactive hepatitis. Cases of chronic active and chronic passive hepatitis and one case of hepatocellular carcinoma were reported. In the infected liver, predominant pathological changes included granuloma and spotty necrosis, which were attributed to tuberculous hepatitis. Infection with Cryptococcus usually showed no associated pathological change. The sensitivity for the clinical diagnosis of Cryptococcus was 88.8% and specificity was 91.7%. For tuberculosis, sensitivity was 20% and specificity was 67.9%.
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PMID:Opportunistic infections in the liver of HIV-infected patients in Thailand: a necropsy study. 1141 8

Infections with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) are a major cause of acute and chronic liver disease. The high prevalence of the virus, the insidious course of the disease and the poor prognosis for long-term persistent infection make this pathogen a serious medical and socioeconomical problem. The identification of the viral genome approximately 10 years ago rapidly led to the delineation of the genomic organization and the structural and biochemical characterization of several virus proteins. However, studies of the viral life cycle as well as the development of antiviral drugs have been difficult because of the lack of a robust and reliable cell culture system. Numerous attempts have been undertaken in the past few years but only recently a highly efficient cell culture model could be developed. This system is based on the self replication of engineered HCV minigenomes (replicons) in a transfected human hepatoma cell line. A summary of the various HCV cell culture models with a focus on the replicon system and its use for drug development is described.
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PMID:Novel cell culture systems for the hepatitis C virus. 1153 Jan 83

Infection by hepatitis B virus (HBV) is mainly restricted to humans. This species specificity is likely determined at the early phase of the viral life cycle. Since the envelope proteins are the first viral factors to interact with the cell, they represent attractive candidates for controlling the HBV host range. To investigate this assumption, we took advantage of the recent discovery of a second virus belonging to the primate Orthohepadnavirus genus, the woolly monkey HBV (WMHBV). A recombinant plasmid was constructed for the expression of all WMHBV envelope proteins. In additional constructs, N-terminal sequences of the WMHBV large envelope protein were substituted for their homologous HBV counterparts. All wild-type and chimeric WMHBV surface proteins were properly synthesized by transfected human hepatoma cells, and they were competent to replace the original HBV proteins for the production of complete viral particles. The resulting pseudotyped virions were evaluated for their infectious capacity on human hepatocytes in primary culture. Virions pseudotyped with wild-type WMHBV envelope proteins showed a significant loss of infectivity. By contrast, infectivity was completely restored when the first 30 residues of the large protein originated from HBV. Analysis of smaller substitutions within this domain limited the most important region to a stretch of only nine amino acids. Reciprocally, replacement of this motif by WMHBV residues in the context of the HBV L protein significantly reduced infectivity of HBV. Hence this short region of the L protein contributes to the host range of HBV.
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PMID:A short N-proximal region in the large envelope protein harbors a determinant that contributes to the species specificity of human hepatitis B virus. 1168 38

Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) accounts for 40% of cases of chronic liver disease in the United States and is now the most common indication for liver transplantation. Estimates suggest that 4 million people (1.8%) of the American population are or have been infected with HCV. Currently, the treatment of choice for patients with chronic HCV infection is recombinant interferon alfa with ribavirin. Pegylated interferons are a promising new development, and in combination with ribavirin, they will rapidly become the standard of care. The goals of therapy are to slow disease progression, improve hepatic histology, reduce infectivity, and reduce the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. Sustained virologic response, which generally implies the absence of viremia for 6 months or more following completion of therapy, is increasingly being regarded as a cure, with evidence of slowing or even regression of fibrosis on follow-up liver biopsy. A number of factors have been shown to be predictive of a sustained response, including viral genotype other than 1, low serum HCV RNA levels, absence of cirrhosis, younger age, female gender, and shorter duration of infection. Disease severity as assessed by liver biopsy, comorbidities, and possible contraindications to therapy should be weighed in the decision to begin treatment. Counseling patients regarding transmission, natural history, and drug and alcohol abstinence also should be included in management. Close monitoring should be done during treatment for side effects of interferon, including depression and bone marrow suppression. Hemolytic anemia is the major side effect of ribavirin.
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PMID:Chronic Hepatitis C. 1169 76

Malignant neoplasias are the leading cause of death in Japan at present, of which hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks the third most frequent in men and the fourth most frequent in women. Annual deaths due to HCC are rising sharply and amounted to 33,000 in 1999. Chronic hepatitis C is the most frequent etiology of HCC in Japan and accounts for nearly 90% of cases. The recent rapid increase of HCC in Japan is a long-term sequel of hepatitis C virus infection that affected many individuals in the past, and manifests itself currently as HCC. Infection with the hepatitis C virus has prevailed since the end of World War II for reasons inherent in the socioeconomic background in Japan.
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PMID:Characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma in Japan. 1186 86

We measured serum PIVKA-II concentrations in 18 patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Alcoholic liver disease was diagnosed by the history of ethanol intake of more than 900 ml/day for over 10 years. Liver cirrhosis was diagnosed histologically. Infections with hepatitis B and C viruses were ruled out by assaying serum virus markers. No tumor was detected in liver by ultrasonography and computed tomography during observation period. None of the patients studied were positive for alpafetoprotein (AFP). Eight out of 18 (44.4%) patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis showed elevated serum PIVKA-II levels. In contrast, only eight out of 93 (8.6%) patients with nonalcholic liver cirrhosis had elevated serum PIVKA-II levels. PIVKA-II is well known as a tumor marker of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The rates of positive PIVKA-II found in alcoholic liver cirrhosis approached its rates in HCC. However, the time course for the elevation of serum PIVKA-II levels was different each other in alcoholic liver cirrhosis and HCC. In HCC, serum PIVKA-II "levels" continued to elevate until therapy. In contrast, its elevation was transient and its levels returned to baseline in alcoholic liver cirrhosis. The values of ALT (GPT), gamma-GTP, and ALP correlated poorly with serum PIVKA-II levels in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis. To investigate the mechanism by which elevation of serum PIVKA-II levels in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis occurred, we studied the effect of vitamin K on production of PIVKA-II and AFP by hepatocytes. Hepatocytes(Alexander PLC/PRF/F cell line) were cultured in the presence of various concentrations of vitamin K (Kaytwo, Eisai, Tokyo). Vitamin K had no effect on AFP production. In contrast, PIVKA-II production was inhibited by addition of vitamin K in a dose dependent manner. Moreover, elevation of serum PIVKA-II levels in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis was suppressed by administration of vitamin K (Kaytwo) to these patients. Taken together, these results suggest that vitamin K may have a role in the mechanism of PIVKA-II elevation in sera of these patients. Then, we measured serum concentrations of vitamin K(PK, MK-4, MK-7) in these patients. There was no correlation observed between vitamin K and PIVKA-II in these patients. This result suggests that elevation of serum PIVKA-II in these patients may not be due to vitamin K deficiency. One question not answered here is how serum PIVKA-II levels in these patients are suppressed by treatment with vitamin K (Kaytwo). More detailed analysis of the mechanism of elevation of serum PIVKA-II levels in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis is needed.
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PMID:[Studies on the mechanism of elevation of serum PIVKA-II levels in alcoholic liver cirrhosis]. 1198 59

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is at the origin of severe liver diseases like chronic active hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. There are some groups of patients with high risk of generation of HBV mutants: infected infants, immunosuppressed individuals (including hemodialysis patients), patients treated with interferon and lamivudine for chronic HBV infection. These groups are the target for molecular investigations reviewed in this paper. The emergence of lamivudine- or other antiviral-resistant variants, rises concern regarding long term use of these drugs. Infection or immunization with one HBV subtype confers immunity to all subtypes. However, reinfection or reactivation of latent HBV infection with HBV mutants have been reported in patients undergoing transplant and those infected with HIV. Mutations of the viral genome which are not replicative incompetent can be selected in further course of infection or under prolonged antiviral treatment and might maintain the liver disease. Four open reading frames (ORF) which are called S-gene, C-gene, X-gene and P-gene were identified within the HBV genome. Mutations may affect each of the ORFs. Mutated S-genes were described to be responsible for HBV-infections in successfully vaccinated persons, mutated C-genes were found to provoke severe chronic liver diseases, mutated X-genes could cause serious medical problems in blood donors by escaping the conventional test systems and mutated P-genes were considered to be the reason for chemotherapeutic drug resistance. This paper reviews molecular, immunological and clinical aspects of the HBV mutants.
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PMID:Molecular, immunological and clinical properties of mutated hepatitis B viruses. 1200 75

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus is the cause of acute disease and several chronic conditions, such as chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer.In 1982, hepatitis B vaccine was developed. Since 1984, many immunization programs against hepatitis B were implemented in several countries and 15 years later we can visualize some epidemiological changes in those countries.OBJECTIVE: To review the papers published about the results of hepatitis B immunization programs in several countries from Asia, Africa, Europe (Italy) and Peru, since 1984.METHODS: Pertinent literature was identified in MEDLINE (1980-2000) and references quoted in published papers. RESULTS: The impact of vaccination against hepatitis B over the incidence of acute disease, chronic carriers, hepatitis B virus prevalence and hepatocarcinoma incidence, was anayzed.The following results were obtained: In Afragola (Italy), a reduction of acute disease incidence from 63 cases/100,000 population before the vaccination (1983), to 3 cases/100,000 population after the vaccination (1997), was obtained HBsAg carriers rate decreased: From 13.4% to 3.7% in the general population and from 6.8% to 0.7% in infant population.Infection prevalence: From 66.9% to 34.2% in general population. In Taiwan:HBsAg carriers rate decreased: From 10.0% to <1.0% in children from 1 to 10 years old.Infection prevalence: From 38.0% to 16.0% in children under 13 years old. In Peru:Infection prevalence: From 24.4-30.4% to 2.3-5.1% in children of 3 and 4 years old. In Senegal:HBsAg carriers rate decreased: From 18.7% to 2.2% in children. In Gambia:HBsAg carriers rate decreased: From 10.0% to 0.6% in children.Finally, the hepatocarcinoma incidence in children from 6 to 14 years old, decreased from 0.70/100,000 children to 0.36/100,000 (p<0.01) in Taiwan.CONCLUSION: The results of these studies support the hypothesis that the vaccination against the hepatitis B virus infection reduce the incidence of acute disease, carriers rate, prevalence of the infection and hepatocarcinoma incidence.
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PMID:[HEPATITIS B.VACCINATION IMPACT ON ACUTE DISEASE,CHRONIC CARRIERS AND HEPATOCARCINOMA INCIDENCE] 1214 May 76

We performed a community-based study of 12 villages of southern Taiwan's A-Lein Township to investigate the epidemiology of hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. Of 6,095 patients, 13.8% were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen positive (HBsAg(+)) and 17.0% were positive for anti-HCV (anti-HCV(+)). Infection was found to be inversely related to educational level and to be directly related to the frequency of the receipt of parenteral injection for medical purposes. Risk factors for HBsAg positivity were male sex, age < or = 50 years, and a family history of hepatocellular carcinoma. Risk factors for HCV seropositivity were lower education level, frequent parenteral injections, blood transfusion, menial occupations, smoking, and age > 50 years. Therefore, risk factors for HBsAg(+) and anti-HCV(+) were different in these Taiwanese communities. Safe medical injections and improved health education for high-risk groups are imperative for preventing HCV transmission.
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PMID:Comparison of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus prevalence and risk factors in a community-based study. 1216 93

To investigate whether past exposure to Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) were risk factors for the development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) in Peru, a case-control study of 136 patients with HCC and 136 age-matched and sex-matched control subjects was performed. Past exposure to HBV and HCV were assessed respectively by antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (Anti-HBc) and HbsAg and anti-HCV.Of the HCC cases, 63.2% were posuitive for HbsAg and 0.73% foranti-HCV. Of the control patients, 4.4% were positive to HbsAg and 0.73% to anti-HCV.The mean age of patients with HCC negative for HbsAg was significantly greater than that of patients HCC positive for HbsAg (35.4 versus 29.4 years, p less than 0.001).The HbsAg patients are 36.26 times more prone to developing HCC than those with HbsAg negative (95% confidence interval: 15.31-90.7).Infection with HCV does not pose a risk for the development of HCC (RR 1, 95% confidence interval: 0.062-16.152).A causal relation between HBV infection in children HCC was observed. These results indicate that HbsAg carriage is a risk factor for HCC in Peru. The importance of vertical or perinatal transmission of HBV and the prophylactic role of passive immunization plus vaccination during childhood is emphasized as well as the selective vaccination of high risk groups.
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PMID:[HEPATITIS B AND C VIRUS INFECTION AS RISK FACTORS FORHEPATOCARCINOMA IN PERU: CASE AND CONTROL STUDY] 1220 16


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