Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P17174 (aspartate aminotransferase)
 14,872 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Increased infiltration of lymphocytes and induction of damage and destruction of hepatocytes by these lymphocytes are characteristic features of chronic viral hepatitis. As chemokines attract lymphocytes to inflamed tissues, we studied macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-3alpha, a CC chemokine, in chronic viral hepatitis. The levels of MIP-3alpha were measured in the sera from 40 patients with chronic viral hepatitis and 30 control subjects by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (detection limit of MIP-3alpha=7.8 pg/mL). The kinetics of MIP-3alpha were checked during interferon (IFN) therapy in 25 patients. The levels of MIP-3alpha in the sera were significantly higher in patients with chronic viral hepatitis (39.0 +/- 28.9 pg/mL) than control subjects (15.6 +/- 4.9 pg/mL; P < 0.0001) and in patients with severe (49.6 +/- 49.2 pg/mL) and moderate degree of hepatitis (50.9 +/- 27.1 pg/mL) than in mild disease (16.0 +/- 6.8 pg/mL; P < 0.05). A significant correlation was seen among serum MIP-3alpha levels with the levels of alanine aminotransferase (r=0.509, P < 0.0001), aspartate aminotransferase (r=0.505, P < 0.0001), and degrees of activity of hepatitis (r=0.592, P < 0.0001) and interface hepatitis (r=0.419, P=0.0066). The levels of MIP-3alpha were significantly increased in patients with hepatitis C 2 weeks after the start of therapy in IFN-responders, but, remained almost unchanged in IFN-nonresponders. These findings might be important not only for the understanding of immunoptahogenesis of hepatocellular damage in chronic hepatitis (CH) patients but also for a therapeutic strategy to control the local immune response in the liver. A prognostic value of MIP-3alpha during IFN therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C is also shown.
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PMID:Increased serum levels of macrophage inflammatory protein-3alpha in chronic viral hepatitis: prognostic importance of macrophage inflammatory protein-3alpha during interferon therapy in chronic hepatitis C. 1201 May 10

More than one-third of Americans use herbs for health purposes, yet patients and physicians usually lack accurate information about safety and efficacy of herbal remedies. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the use of so-called complementary and alternative therapies by patients with liver disease. Medical professionals and laboratorians need to be informed about popular alternative therapies and be open-minded to the possibility that some benefit may come from some therapies currently regarded as alternative. Silymarin extracted from the milk thistle is most widely subscribed to as a remedy for liver diseases. The beneficial effects of silymarin are most often seen in the patients who had cirrhosis as a result of alcohol abuse. An ongoing clinical trial will provide some insight as to whether milk thistle directly affects HCV. Silymarin has a good safety record and only rare case reports of gastrointestinal disturbances and allergic skin rashes have been published. The active component of licorice root, glycyrrhizin, has been shown to reduce alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase values in the serum. This protective function has recently been explained as the inhibitory effects of glycyrrhizin on immune-mediated cytotoxicity against hepatocytes and on nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B, which activates genes encoding inflammatory cytokines in the liver. Finally, some patients with hepatitis C take St. John's Wort and ginger to treat the side effects caused by interferon therapy. An excellent review of this subject was recently published by the NCCAM.
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PMID:The use of alternative medicine in the treatment of hepatitis C. 1208 34

Although interferon (IFN) therapy suppresses the development of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the relationship between response to previous IFN therapy and postoperative outcome has not been clarified in patients who underwent curative resection for HCC. Of 175 patients who underwent curative hepatic resection for HCV-related HCC, 24 patients had HCC detected after IFN therapy. 11 patients who had a biochemical response (a normalized alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity with or without disappearance of serum HCV RNA) were classified as the response group, while 13 patients were classified as the non-response group because they had no decrease in their ALT activity and had persistence of serum HCV RNA. The non-IFN group included 151 patients who had not received previous IFN therapy. The clinicopathologic findings and surgical outcomes were compared among these three groups. The serum activities of the aspartate aminotransferase and ALT just before surgery were significantly lower in the response group than in the other groups. Although no significant differences were noted in the other clinicopathologic findings or the operation method among these groups, the tumor-free survival rate of the response group was significantly higher than that of the two other groups. By multivariate analysis, the response group had an independently lower risk for postoperative recurrence (risk ratio, 0.07; P=0.0072). Hepatic resection offers hope for low incidence of postoperative recurrence in patients with HCC, especially when previous IFN therapy has controlled their active hepatitis associated with HCV.
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PMID:Relationship between response to previous interferon therapy and postoperative recurrence of hepatitis C virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma. 1247 39

The risk of transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an important problem for the health care worker. HCV transmission by blood splashing into eyes is very rare. In a hemodialyses department, a 23-year-old female nurse splashed blood from a patient who was anti-HCV positive into her eyes. She washed her eyes with water immediately and reported to the infection control department. She had never used intravenous drugs nor received transfusions. At the time of exposure, there was no abnormality in her laboratory tests. Her anti-HCV and HCV-RNA tests produced negative results. She was followed up for anti-HCV and alanine aminotransferase activity. After 6 months, she presented with sore throat, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weight loss. She had icterus and hepatomegalia. In laboratory tests, alanine aminotransferase level was 504 U/L, aspartate aminotransferase level was 388 U/L, and anti-HCV and HCV-RNA tests produced positive findings. She was treated with interferon alfa-2a for a 1-year period. After treatment, an HCV-RNA test produced negative results and transaminase levels were normal. In conclusion, splashing blood from patients who are HCV positive into the face or eyes is a risk for health care workers. They should be educated to prevent a nosocomial acquisition of bloodborne infection and they should observe protective precautions.
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PMID:Transmission of hepatitis C by blood splash into conjunctiva in a nurse. 1545 4

This review explores the salient issues surrounding liver injury and liver monitoring associated with beta-interferon (IFNB) treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS). Post-marketing studies have found a higher proportion of IFNB-treated MS patients with elevated aminotransferases than reported in the pivotal clinical trials. Although the risk of severe liver injury appears small, the true incidence is unknown. Post-marketing studies have shown that the greatest period of risk for the development of liver test abnormalities appears to be in the first year of IFNB treatment. The risk also increases with the more frequently administered, higher-dosage IFNBs. Males are more likely than females to develop elevated aminotransferases (> upper normal limit), although females appear at a greater risk of severe liver injury. Of the commonly used biochemical liver tests, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (AP) and bilirubin appear the most useful for routine monitoring of IFNB treatment. Whilst many other factors can affect liver test results, including obesity, alcohol, concomitant medications, co-morbidities and theoretically even MS itself, regular liver testing both prior and during IFNB therapy might help minimise Type A or dose/frequency dependent aminotransferase elevations. However, testing will probably not prevent the Type B idiosyncratic reactions which can result in severe hepatic injury; hence patients need to be aware, and to report hepatic side effects promptly.
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PMID:Hepatic injury, liver monitoring and the beta-interferons for multiple sclerosis. 1559 24

Insulin resistance (IR), glucose intolerance and diabetes mellitus are commonly associated with cirrhosis. The exact pathogenetic mechanisms responsible are still unknown; however, they may be related to both hepatitis C virus itself and to liver injury. IR may be the earliest abnormality, which in the following years may progress to clinical diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of IR by euglycaemic hyperinsulinemic clamp technique, in chronic hepatitis C patients. 15 patients and nine healthy controls without any known condition that may affect IR were enrolled to the study. Chronic hepatitis C was diagnosed by liver biopsy (hepatic activity index was also determined in 10 patients) and appropriate viral and biochemical tests. Eight patients were given interferon therapy, which had been stopped for at least 3 months before the study. Euglycaemic hyperinsulinemic clamp technique was performed as previously described and peripheral glucose utilisation rate, M value, was calculated in mg/kg/min by infusion of 40 IU/m2/min regular insulin. M value of the control group was significantly higher than that of chronic hepatitis C patients (M = 5.1+/-1 vs. 3.7+/-1; p = 0.004), which was consistent with IR in the patient group. There was no significant correlation between the M value and alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and hepatic activity index (p = 0.621, 0.549, 0.479, respectively). Our results suggest that IR is present in chronic hepatitis C patients; it is not directly related to hepatic injury, moreover, it may be associated with some component(s) inherent to hepatitis C virus.
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PMID:Insulin resistance in chronic hepatitis C. 1560 64

To investigate the effects of silymarin on aminotransferase levels in patients with chronic hepatitis C, a standardized treatment with 420mg, 840mg or 1260mg per day was performed in patients of our clinic, who were not eligible for treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin. Aminotransferase levels were determined before, at 3-6 week intervals during and at the end of treatment. Predefined inclusion criteria for the retrospective analysis were persistently elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels (at least 6 months prior to and at beginning of the treatment) and treatment duration of at least three weeks. Liver cirrhosis CHILD B or C, interferon therapy within the last three months before treatment with silymarin, alcohol use >30 g/d, coinfection with hepatitis B virus or other severe diseases were exclusion criteria. According to these criteria 40 patients (13 with 420mg, 20 with 840mg and 7 with 1260mg silymarin per day) were eligible for the analysis. The mean treatment period was 125 +/- 78 days. ALT, aspartate aminotransferase and gamma glutamyltransferase levels did not change significantly from baseline in any group and there were no differences between the treatment groups. Bilirubin and prothrombine time were normal in all but one patient and remained unchanged. Silymarin therapy had no side effects. Silymarin at the doses used, does not improve elevated aminotransferases in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
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PMID:Oral silymarin for chronic hepatitis C - a retrospective analysis comparing three dose regimens. 1581 25

The genotype of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the amount of HCV RNA are often used to predict the efficacy of interferon (IFN) therapy on chronic hepatitis C. In addition to these factors, there may be several factors related to the host. Therefore, the authors undertook a retrospective study in which physical findings and laboratory data before therapy were evaluated by multiple logistic analysis. Two-hundred and five cases with chronic hepatitis C treated with interferon were analyzed in this study. Sustained virological response was observed with 68 cases. Multiple logistic analysis was performed with 29 explanatory variables including HCV genotype, HCV RNA, IFN types, and total dose, along with gender, age, alcohol consumption, body mass index (BMI), histological findings of liver biopsy, platelet counts, and laboratory data of serum enzymes. Analysis on the factors that correlated well with therapeutic efficacy revealed that genotype 2a, 2b showed higher therapeutic responses than genotype 1b with reference to HCV genotypes, and higher IFN dose or lower HCV RNA levels gave better results. With reference to host factors, higher total protein level, lower levels of BMI, total bilirubin, and aspartate aminotransferase were highly correlated with therapeutic efficacy. HCV genotypes and HCV RNA levels have been already identified as prognostic factors. However, the high correlation values of BMI and the total protein level are new findings. It is suggested that probability estimation of therapeutic effects using the logistic regression equation may be a good tool for predicting therapeutic efficacy of IFN therapy on individual cases.
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PMID:Analysis of prognostic factors in therapeutic responses to interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis C. 1689 Jan 48

Changes in hepatic fibrosis after interferon-based therapy may be important in determining the long-term outcome of chronic hepatitis C (CHC). The use of liver biopsy for posttreatment assessment is not a viable option as a routine follow-up procedure. This study evaluated the predictive value of a simple noninvasive index, the aspartate aminotransferase (AST)-to-platelet ratio index assessed 6 months after end of treatment (APRI-M6). We evaluated APRI-M6, platelet-M6, AST-M6, and alpha-fetoprotein-M6 of 776 CHC patients with interferon-based therapy as well as the parameters at baseline of 562 untreated patients who were evaluated to predict the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and mortality, during a mean follow-up period of 4.75 (1.0-12.2) and 5.15 (1.0-16) years, respectively. Based on analysis of receiver operating characteristics (ROC) and using optimized cutoff point, the APRI-M6 and platelet-M6 had superior prediction models for long-term outcome with area under the curve of 0.870-0.875 and 0.824-0.847, respectively, and accuracy of 78%-81% and 76%-78%, respectively, for interferon-based-treated patients. The predictive values of all 4 parameters were poor in untreated patients. In subgroup analysis, the APRI-M6 provided a more consistent prediction ratio than platelet-M6 for sustained responders and cirrhosis-free subgroups; both parameters had similar prediction power for nonresponders and were unsatisfactory in patients with cirrhosis. According to Cox proportional hazards analysis, cirrhosis and APRI-M6 were the 2 most important factors for predicting HCC. In conclusion, APRI-M6 can accurately predict the long-term outcome of patients subjected to interferon-based treatment. Nevertheless, the data needs further validation, particularly since the predictive accuracy for patients with cirrhosis is low.
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PMID:A simple noninvasive index for predicting long-term outcome of chronic hepatitis C after interferon-based therapy. 1753 39

We examined whether treatment with amodiaquine, a potent inhibitor of histamine N-methyltransferase protects mice from Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes)-primed and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced hepatitis. The subcutaneous injection of amodiaquine (2 and 5 mg/kg) significantly increased the histamine levels in the liver in comparison to saline treated mice. Pretreatment with amodiaquine also improved the survival rate of the hepatitis mice, and this improvement was partially associated with the decrease in serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Amodiaquine partially suppressed increases of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha in the serum and TNF-alpha mRNA expression in the liver, whereas the expression of interleukin (IL)-18, interferon (IFN)-gamma and IL-12 in the liver was not changed by amodiaquine treatment. In conclusion, the present findings suggested that the elevation of endogenous histamine by amodiaquine may thus play a protective role through the regulation of TNF-alpha production in endotoxin-induced hepatic injury mice.
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PMID:Effect of amodiaquine, a histamine N-methyltransferase inhibitor, on, Propionibacterium acnes and lipopolysaccharide-induced hepatitis in mice. 1722 19


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