Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023890 (cirrhosis)
 42,195 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Liver dysfunction was observed in 33% of patients treated by hemodialysis and kidney transplantation. Fifty-eight percent of these cases of hepatitis occurred in patients with past or present HBs antigenemia, and 77% of HBsAg-positive patients showed evidence of LD. However, during the course of a program conducted from 1969 to 1976 and involving 267 patients, the decrease in the prevalence of HBs antigenemia observed during the last two years did not lead to any reduction in LD incidence. In a small number of patients, potentially hepatotoxic drugs could be incriminated, but in our experience azathioprine never appeared to be involved. In a few patients, LD was due to granulomatous disease of the liver, such as tuberculosis and schistosomiasis. Twenty-one (7%) of the 267 patients at risk developed chronic hepatitis, which contributed to death in nine patients. In 12 cases (three deaths), this form of hepatitis occurred in HBsAg-positive patients, and in nine cases (six deaths), in HBsAg-negative patients. In three of these latter individuals, cytomegalovirus could be incriminated. Routine monthly screening for CMV in kidney recipients confirmed the high incidence of this viral infection in such patients. Studies on murine CMV infection have demonstrated that this infection can be enhanced by histoincompatible graft or by cyclophosphamide in a model that is very close to the kidney recipient. As in mice, CMV infection in kidney recipients apparently results from reactivation of a latent infection. It seems to play a major role in the LD observed and could apparently lead to chronic hepatitis and even to cirrhosis of the liver. Finally, the occurrence of LD in HBsAg-, anti-HBs- and antiCMV-negative patients would suggest the responsibility of other viruses for the pathogenesis of liver disease in patients treated by hemodialysis and kidney transplantation. Besides Epstein-Barr virus, other viruses, such as hepatitis C virus, should be thoroughly scrutinized.
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PMID:Liver disease in patients undergoing hemodialysis and kidney transplantation. 11 44

Liver sections from 18 patients positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), and from 12 negative patients, were examined for the presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA using an in situ hybridization assay that would identify only those hepatocytes containing more than 10 to 15 HBV genome equivalents per cell. Such cells are likely to be undergoing active viral replication, rather than latent infection. The findings were correlated with results of tissue immunofluorescence for HBV antigens and the presence of serum hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg), together with histologic assessment of each liver. HBV DNA detected in the above assay was predominantly cytoplasmic; it was associated with the presence of hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) in hepatocytes and HBeAg in serum, and to a lesser extent with cirrhosis and immunosuppression, but not with the presence of HBsAg in hepatocytes, nor with histological evidence of disease activity judged by the presence of piece-meal necrosis and lobular and portal tract inflammation. These findings support the view that liver HBcAg and serum HBeAg are markers of virus replication, and demonstrate that active liver disease in HBsAg-positive patients may occur with or without such markers of replication. It is proposed that alternative mechanisms for hepatocyte injury may apply in different chronic HBV patients, one related to virus replication and one dependent on immunological factors.
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PMID:Correlation between liver histology and markers of hepatitis B virus replication in infected patients: a study by in situ hybridization. 669 67

Five Tupaia herpesviruses have been isolated until now: four in our laboratory which were termed THV-2, 3, 4, and 5, whereas THV-1 has been isolated by Melnick and his colleagues. THV-2 was isolated from tumour cell culture of a high-grade malignant lymphoma of a Tupaia, THV-3 was released from a cell culture of another Tupaia lymphoma, THV-4 from a spleen tissue culture of a moribund animal with finely granulated liver cirrhosis, and THV-5 from cultured spleen cells of an apparently healthy tree shrew. THV-1 to 5 were efficiently propagated, plaque-purified and cloned on Tupaia embryonic fibroblasts. The five isolates of Tupaia herpesviruses are easily distinguished from each other by restriction enzyme analysis of their genomes. THV-1 to 4 are highly pathogenic (lethality 100%) for juvenile Tupaias by intravenous inoculation. In contrast, only 25% lethality was found by intraperitoneal administration. THV-1 to 4 can persist as a latent infection in spleens of Tupaias and rabbits, which allows the recovery of infectious virus from cultured spleens of both animals. THV-2 and 3 induced hyperplasia of the thymus of rabbits which developed malignant thymoma in a few cases. The biological properties and genomic size and structure indicate that THV cannot be considered to belong to one of the three existing subfamilies of herpesviruses.
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PMID:Tree shrew (Tupaia) herpesviruses. 716 1

The mechanisms underlying chronicity of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are poorly understood, but the importance of impaired viral clearance by the immune system has been suggested. The prevalence of HCV infection of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was in investigated in 34 persistently infected patients with anti-HCV (7 with liver cirrhosis, 10 with chronic active hepatitis, 5 with chronic persistent hepatitis, 4 with chronic lobular hepatitis, and 8 healthy carriers) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). HCV infection of 116 T cell clones derived from liver infiltrating mononuclear cells obtained from 3 patients with chronic liver disease was examined using the same methods. HCV genomic sequences were found in fresh, unstimulated PBMC from 20 patients with cirrhosis, and chronic active and persistent hepatitis, but in none of the healthy carriers and only in mitogen-activated cells from 1 out of 4 patients with autoresolving chronic lobular hepatitis. Active PBMC infection was confirmed by identification of anti-genomic HCV sequences in the majority of HCV RNA-positive cells (fresh or mitogen-stimulated). A high percentage of T cell clones obtained from liver infiltrates were found to be infected by HCV. These findings suggest that HCV infection of lymphatic cells plays a role in the pathogenesis of chronically evolving liver damage. PBMC may represent a reservoir for latent infection and a site for viral multiplication.
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PMID:Hepatitis C virus infection of mononuclear cells from peripheral blood and liver infiltrates in chronically infected patients. 855 Dec 60

Isolated peritoneal tuberculosis is an uncommon extrapulmonary form of presentation of tuberculosis in industrialized countries. In most cases, this disease is the result of reactivation and secondary hematogenous spread of a latent infection. Although the suspected diagnosis is given by clinical manifestations and analysis of ascitic fluid (lymphocytic predominance, albumin gradient between serum and ascitic fluid 1g/dl and adenosine deaminase concentration > or = 39 U/L), microbiologic assessment is required for the definitive diagnosis. Mycobacterium bovis causes tuberculosis in animals. Transmission to humans is rare in developed areas, given that it usually occurs through ingestion of unpasteurized contaminated milk. We present a patient with cirrhosis who developed ascites caused by an exceptional infection in our setting.
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PMID:[Peritoneal tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium bovis in a cirrhotic patient]. 1957 39