UMLS:C0019204 - FACTA Search

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

Query: UMLS:C0019204 (hepatocellular carcinoma)
71,386 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Most patients with liver cancer are diagnosed when they are not suitable for resection. Although some palliative approaches can be applied to these patients, the overall survival rate remains unsatisfactory. Active hexose correlated compound (AHCC), a newly developed functional food, has been shown to act as a potent biological response modifier in in vitro experiments. Recently, AHCC was found to improve the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma patients following surgical treatment. We investigated whether AHCC could prolong survival and improve the prognosis of patients with advanced liver cancer. A prospective cohort study was performed with 44 patients with histologically confirmed liver cancer. All of the patients underwent supportive care. Survival time, quality of life, clinical and immunological parameters related to liver function, cellular immunity, and patient status were determined. Of the 44 patients, 34 and 10 received AHCC and placebo (control) orally, respectively. Patients in the AHCC treated-group had a significantly prolonged survival when compared to the control group by Mann-Whitney test (95% CI, p = 0.000). Quality of life in terms of mental stability, general physical health status, and ability to have normal activities were significantly improved after 3 months of AHCC treatment when tested using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (on one-sided test, p = 0.028, 0.037, and 0.040, respectively). The apparent different clinical parameters between the two groups were the levels of albumin and percentage of lymphocytes with p-values of 0.000 and 0.026 at 1 and 2 months after treatment, respectively. Unlike the control patients, AHCC treated-patients with longer survival time had the tendency of better outcomes since the levels of AST and ALT had not increased rapidly from their baselines at follow-up. In addition, the levels of total IL-12 and neopterin were slightly increased in AHCC treated-patients. This study suggests that AHCC intake could prolong the survival and improve the prognosis of patients with advanced liver cancer and delay the gradual decline of their physiological status.
...
PMID:Prognostic improvement of patients with advanced liver cancer after active hexose correlated compound (AHCC) treatment. 1691 87

Tomiura, a rural area of Chiba Prefecture in which community-based HCV screening has been carried out since 1991, is known as a high-incidence area of HCV. This study was conducted to clarify the clinical characteristics of subjects with positive HCV antibody titer found on mass survey, in relation to the development and outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma. We analyzed clinical data of patients with positive HCV antibody test results followed up for 9 to 11 years after the mass survey examinations. Among 171 patients, we identified 23 cases (13.5%) of hepatocellular carcinoma in a 9-year period. Correlations have been identified between the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma and those factors including gender, aminotranseferase levels, platelet count and ultrasound findings at the time of the first health screening, as well as patterns of fluctuation in aminotranseferase levels during the follow-up period. Among those patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, 11 patients survived for more than 5 years. The survival period has been found to be related to AST level at the time of first health screening, the findings in ultrasound scanning when the carcinoma was initially identified, and patterns of fluctuation in aminotranseferase levels subsequent to the first diagnosis.
...
PMID:[Occurrence and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma]. 1733 73

A 60-year-old man with multiple hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) was enrolled as the first patient in a pilot study for treating multiple liver tumors with boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). Because of compromised liver function, the multiple tumors in the right liver lobe were treated with BNCT and those in the left lobe with hepatic arterial chemoembolization. The feasibility and clinical outcome of this first case was assessed. During the treatment and follow-up period, no adverse effect as a result of BNCT was observed except for temporary temperature elevation to 38.3 degrees C, and the AST and ALT being higher than 200 IU/l. For 1 month, the tumors treated with BNCT remained stable in size. The BNCT-treated tumors showed regrowth 3.5 months after BNCT and the patient died of liver dysfunction caused by progression of HCC 10 months after BNCT. The feasibility of BNCT for HCC is confirmed in this first case.
...
PMID:First attempt of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for hepatocellular carcinoma. 1757 94

Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is characterized by inflammatory liver damage and a long viral persistence associated with an increased risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) plays a key role during liver inflammation and also expressed in HCC. Its cellular expression is associated with the release of soluble form (sICAM-1) in the peripheral blood. The process of angiogenesis plays a critical role in liver damage-associated HCV infection and in tumor growth and metastasis. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is an important angiogenic factor regulating tumor angiogenesis. This study aimed at investigating the influence of HCV infection on serum profile of sICAM-1 and VEGF in patients with hepatitis C and HCC and their diagnostic value as useful markers reflecting progressive liver damage and development of HCC. Serum levels of sICAM-1 and VEGF were determined in the serum of fifteen HCV infected patients, fifteen HCV-positive patients with superimposed HCC as well as ten healthy control subjects by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. HCV RNA copy numbers were analyzed by Real-time polymerase chain reaction using TaqMan probe technology. Alpha-fetoprotein levels and serum aminotransferases activities were also measured. The group of patients with hepatitis C and superimposed HCC had significantly higher sICAM-1 and VEGF values than HCV infected patients (1178.113 +/- 631.87 vs. 313.67 +/- 82.72 & 320.88 +/- 117.99 vs. 132.45 +/- 91.56, p < 0.001 respectively). In comparison to healthy subjects, HCV infected patients showed dramatically elevated serum levels of VEGF (132.45 +/- 91.56 vs. 7.76 +/- 7.41, p < 0.001). On the other hand, sICAM-1 levels were elevated in patients with HCV as compared with healthy controls, but this did not reach statistical significance (313.67 +/- 82.72 vs. 230.3 +/- 47.4, p > 0.05). A highly significant correlation was found between VEGF and sICAM-1 levels in all patients (r = 0.731, p < 0.001) also between VEGF, sICAM-1 and AFP (r = 0.473, p < 0.001, r = 0.690, p < 0.001, respectively) as well as between sICAM-1 and AST activities (r = 0.367, p < 0.05). A weak correlation was found between the level of viremia and VEGF, sICAM-1 levels, yet this did not reach statistical significance (r = 0.312, p = 0.09 & r = 0.228, p > 0.05 respectively). The sensitivity of HCC detection using AFP alone was 93.3%. It yielded 100% detection sensitivity when combined with sICAM-1 and/or VEGF with diagnostic accuracy reaching 96.67%. In conclusion, HCV infection and the development of HCC on top greatly affect the serum profile of VEGF and sICAM-1. VEGF as it stimulates endothelial cell growth, it could modulate the expression of sICAM-1 and both could be considered as convenient markers of progressive liver damage, endothelial activation and therefore could improve detection and management of HCC.
...
PMID:Influence of hepatitis C virus infection on circulating levels of sICAM-1 and VEGF in patients with hepatitis C and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and their role in enhancing detection of HCC. 1797 48

Some hepatotropic viruses (HBV and HCV) are capable of triggering autoimmune phenomena and manifest the features of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) in the course of the disease. Careful attention is required to differentiate between AIH and chronic viral hepatitis (CVH) before the selection of treatment. This study was performed to assess the prevalence of rheumatoid factor (RF), antinuclear antibodies (ANA), anti-smooth muscle antibodies (ASMA), anti-mitochondrial antibodies (AMA), anti-parietal cell antibodies (APCA), anti-liver/kidney microsomal antibodies type I (ALKMA1) and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) among patients with chronic liver diseases (CLD), and to assess the diagnostic value of these autoantibodies and their relation to HCV viral load and genotype and treatment with interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha). Five groups of patients with CLD (HCV, HBV, HCC, AIH and schistosomal hepatic fibrosis {SHF}) as well as a group of age- and gender-matched healthy controls were enrolled in the study. All the studied persons were subjected to full clinical assessment and laboratory investigations, including liver function tests, hepatitis markers, and HCV RNA by PCR. Detection of ANA, ASMA, APCA, AMA and ALKMA-1 was done by indirect immunofluorescence technique, while ANCA and RF were detected by EIA and latex agglutination test respectively. Results showed a significantly higher prevalence of RF, ASMA and ANCA among patients with CHC, RF and ASMA among HCC patients and ASMA and ALKMA1, among AIH patients as compared to the control group. Patients with HBV and those with SHF had a non-significantly higher prevalence of RF, ASMA and ANCA compared to controls. However, AMA was not detected in this study, and APCA showed no significant difference between the studied groups. The occurrence of these autoantibodies was not significantly related to HCV viral load, HCV genotype or treatment with IFN-alpha. There was a significant association between the occurrence of RF, ANA, ASMA, and ALKMA1 and high ALT levels, and between the occurrence of ANA, ASMA and ALKMA-1 and high AST and ALP levels. In conclusion, autoantibodies are commonly found among patients with HCV infection. The co-existence of HCV infection and autoimmune hepatitis should be considered in patients who are positive for both viral markers and autoantibodies and thorough evaluation of patients must be performed before selection of treatment. Testing for RF, ASMA and ANCA may have a good diagnostic value, however, AMA is the least useful in diagnosis.
...
PMID:Autoantibodies in chronic liver disease. 1797 15

Activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-alpha by natural and synthetic chemicals induces hepatic hypertrophy. An aqueous extract of Salacia oblonga root (SOW) is an Ayurvedic medicine with anti-diabetic and anti-obesity properties. In the present study, it was found that SOW (100, 300 and 900mg/kg, once daily by oral gavage over a 28 day period) elicited dose-related increases in liver weight (LW) by 1.6%, 13.4% and 42.5%, respectively, and in the ratio of LW to body weight by 8.8%, 16.7% and 40.2%, respectively, in male rats. These effects were less pronounced in females. SOW selectively increased liver mass in male rats but Sudan red staining was not different, which indicates that hepatic lipid accumulation was similar in both genders. However, SOW even at the highest dosage did not influence serum ALT and AST activities in male or female rats. Moreover, SOW was found to activate PPAR-alpha in human hepatoma-derived HepG2 cells, as evidenced by the upregulation of PPAR-alpha and acyl-CoA oxidase mRNA expression. Thus, SOW-dependent PPAR-alpha activation may precede the development of the gender difference in hepatic hypertrophy; this process may be influenced by sex hormone status.
...
PMID:An aqueous extract of Salacia oblonga root, a herb-derived peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha activator, by oral gavage over 28 days induces gender-dependent hepatic hypertrophy in rats. 1839 19

Interferon-alpha (IFNalpha) is a critical mediator of immunity to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Although IFN has been used in the treatment of viral hepatitis for more than a decade, the role of IFN-alpha-receptor in HBV infection has not been intensively studied. We have evaluated the impact of two variants of the IFNAR1 gene on the outcome of HBV infection. Four hundred and fifty eight HBV-infected Vietnamese patients, with well-characterised clinical profiles including all forms of hepatic disease, and 160 non-infected, healthy Vietnamese individuals were enrolled in the study. Of these patients, 54 had acute hepatitis B, 88 had chronic hepatitis B, 118 had liver cirrhosis, 146 had a hepatocellular carcinoma and 52 were asymptomatic carriers of HBV. We analysed two SNPs for unequal distribution between these groups. The first SNP, rs1012335 is situated in intron 3 of the interferon alpha receptor 1 (IFNAR1). A C at position 17470 in the IFNAR1 on both chromosomes was detected more frequently in HBV-infected patients compared to healthy controls (OR: 2.6; 95% CI: 1.46-4.72, p < 0.001). The same homozygosity is also associated with higher concentrations of AST and ALT (aspartate and alanine amino-transferase) in the plasma of the patients. The second SNP (rs2257167) is situated in exon 4, causing a change of amino acids from Val (GTT) to Leu (CTT). Subjects having GTT on both chromosomes were more frequent in the healthy control group (OR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.35-0.84, p = 0.004) and had lower plasma ALT concentrations. The findings indicate that two variants of the IFNAR1 gene are associated with the clinical presentation of HBV infection.
...
PMID:Association of two variants of the interferon-alpha receptor-1 gene with the presentation of hepatitis B virus infection. 1910 27

Tumors often induce tolerance in the immune system, which may contribute to the limited success of clinical vaccination against tumors. In order to develop strategies for overcoming tumor tolerance we have developed an inducible mouse model of autochthonus hepatocellular carcinoma growth, which relates more closely to the clinical situation than transplantation tumors. These so-called AST mice harbour a construct consisting of the hepatocyte-specific albumin promoter, a loxP flanked stop-cassette, and the oncogene SV40 large T antigen (Tag). By intravenous application of an adenovirus encoding Cre recombinase the stop cassette was excised, thereby inducing Tag expression and formation of hepatoma nodules in a dose-dependent fashion in about 3 months. Non-induced AST mice showed tumor tolerance, as demonstrated by the failure to reject Tag-positive transplantation tumors and the inability to mount CTL following Tag immunization. Dendritic cell-based immunization with an agonist Tag peptide was able to overcome tolerance and resulted in marked CTL activity against naturally occurring Tag epitopes. Importantly, vaccination with the agonist peptide prevented growth of the autochthonous liver tumors and significantly prolonged survival of the animals. Our findings demonstrate that agonist peptides can be used in immunization protocols for breaking of tolerance and induction of CTL that mediate effective anti-tumor responses. In addition, the inducible hepatoma model described here can be used for the design of therapeutic strategies against hepatocellular carcinoma.
...
PMID:Tumor agonist peptides break tolerance and elicit effective CTL responses in an inducible mouse model of hepatocellular carcinoma. 1942 49

Specific mutations in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome have been reported to be associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The goal of this study was to determine whether mutations in the HBV X gene are associated with the development of HCC in hepatitis B patients with cirrhosis. Forty-two patients infected with HBV genotype C2 with cirrhosis and HCC were compared with 46 patients with cirrhosis but without HCC. X gene mutations were determined by direct sequencing in all patients. The HCC and non-HCC groups were similar with respect to clinical characteristics, and the presence of T1762/A1764, T1653, and V1753 mutations was not significantly different between the two groups (P = 0.068, P = 0.097, P = 0.442, respectively). Only the B1499 mutation was associated significantly with HCC (P = 0.015) (odds ratio: 3.42, 95% CI: 1.24-9.48). In hepatitis Be antigen (HBeAg)-positive patients, advanced age was associated significantly with HCC (P = 0.038), whereas in HBeAg-negative patients, the B1499 mutation was associated more significantly with HCC (P = 0.01). Patients in the B1499 mutation group exhibited significantly higher AST and ALT levels compared with patients infected the wild-type virus. In conclusion, B1499 is a novel mutation associated with HCC in Korean patients with cirrhosis infected with HBV genotype C2.
...
PMID:X gene mutations in hepatitis B patients with cirrhosis, with and without hepatocellular carcinoma. 1969 8

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a common reversible neuropsychiatric syndrome associated with chronic and acute liver dysfunction and significant morbidity and mortality. Although a clear pathogenesis is yet to be determined, elevated ammonia in the serum and central nervous system are the mainstay for pathogenesis and treatment. Management includes early diagnosis and prompt treatment of precipitating factors (infection, gastrointestinal bleeding, electrolyte disturbances, hepatocellular carcinoma, dehydration, hypotension, and use of benzodiazepines, psychoactive drugs, and/or alcohol). Clinical trials have established the efficacy of lactulose and lactitol enemas in the treatment of acute hepatic encephalopathy. Extensive clinical experience has demonstrated the efficacy of oral lactulose and lactitol with the goal of two to three soft bowel movements a day for the treatment of chronic HE. However, lactulose and lactitol have significant gastrointestinal side effects. For patients unable to tolerate lactulose or lactitol or who still have persistent chronic HE with lactulose or lactitol, neomycin, metronidazole and rifaximin are second-line agents. More recent data supports the benefits of rifaximin used solely and as an additional agent with fewer side effects than neomycin or metronidazole. Newer therapies being investigated in humans with clinical promise include nitazoxanide, the molecular adsorbent recirculating system (MARS), L-ornithine phenylacetate, sodium benzoate, and/or sodium phenylacetate and Kremezin((R)) (AST-120).
...
PMID:Current trends in the treatment of hepatic encephalopathy. 1970 77

<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>