فهرست مطالب

Hepatitis Monthly
Volume:13 Issue: 2, Feb 2013

  • تاریخ انتشار: 1391/12/11
  • تعداد عناوین: 12
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  • Roger Wu, Jorge Ortiz, Ramsey Dallal Page 3
  • Behzad Yeganeh, Mohammad Hashemi, Fredrick J. De Serres, Marek J. Los, Saeid Ghavami Page 4
  • Mehran Karimi, Ali Raee, Behnam Baghianimoghadam, Mohammad Hossein Fallahzadeh Page 5
    Background
    Malnutrition is the most common cause of immune deficiency. It results in reduced secretion of T-cells and B-cell-stimulating factors leading to declining of special immunoglobulins. On the other hand, hepatitis B, as a major world health problem, can be prevented effectively by vaccination. Three doses of hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine induce protective levels of anti-hepatitis B surface (anti-HBs) in 95% of healthy children. This level decreases gradually over time..
    Objectives
    The goal of this study was to assess anti-HBs in malnourished children, who confronted to some degrees of immune deficiency..Patients and
    Methods
    This is a cross-sectional study conducted during May to August 2010 in therapeutic clinics of Yazd, Iran. Samples were selected simply and consecutively among 5-6 year-old children with a history of three doses of HBV vaccine in infancy. On the basis of World Health Organization’s definition on malnutrition, which considers anthropometric measurements, malnourished children entered the study. Totally 83 cases (37 boys and 46 girls) were gathered and classified into three groups of mild, moderate, and severe malnutrition. One milliliter of venous blood was taken and anti-HBs were tested by enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA)..
    Results
    Overall, seroprotection rate and geometric mean titer (GMT) of anti-HBs were 60.2% and 15.47 ± 10.92 mIU/mL, respectively. Seroprotection rate was 71.4%, 55.2%, and 72.7% in mild, moderate, and severe malnourished children, respectively. GMT was 30.78 mIU/mL, 12.15 mIU/mL, and 22.95 mIU/mL in these groups, respectively. None of these two indices were significant in these groups (P = 0.471, P = 0.364). Seroprotection rate and GMT were 54.1% and 13.26 ± 11.59 mIU/mL in boys, and 65.2% and 17.5 ± 10.59 mIU/mL in girls, respectively, showing no significant relationship with gender (P = 0.302, P = 0.602). Lowest seroprotection rate was in stunted cases (47.1%) and highest in wasted children (77.8%). This difference also was not significant (P = 0.43)..
    Conclusions
    The seroprotection rate and GMT of anti-HBs observed in this study do not show a high level of immunity. These two indices were not related to severity of malnutrition. We conclude that severity of malnutrition does not affect vaccine-induced antibody level and seroprotection rate; however small sample size in each group of study hinders decisive conclusion. Moreover, GMT and seroprotection rate showed no relationship with type of abnormal anthropometric index, including weight for height, weight for age, and height for age..
    Keywords: Hepatitis B, Vaccination, Malnutrition, Children
  • Abbas Ali Imani Fooladi, Hamideh Mahmoodzadeh Hosseini, Mohammad Reza Nourani, Soghra Khani, Seyed Moayed Alavian Page 6
    Context: A symbiotic relationship between the liver and intestinal tract enables the healthy status of both organs. Microflora resident in intestinal lumen plays a significant role in hepatocytes function. Alterations to the type and amount of microorganisms that live in the intestinal tract can result in serious and harmful liver dysfunctions such as cirrhosis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease, and hepatic encephalopathy. An increased number of pathogens, especially enterobacteriaceae, enterococci, and streptococci species causes the elevation of intestinal permeability and bacterial translocation. The presence of high levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and bacterial substances in the blood result in a portal hypertension and ensuing hepatocytes damage. Several methods including the usage of antibiotics, prebiotics, and probiotics can be used to prevent the overgrowth of pathogens. Compared to prebiotic and antibiotic therapy, probiotics strains are a safer and less expensive therapy. Probiotics are «live microorganisms (according to the FAO/WHO) which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host”.. Evidence Acquisitions: Data from numerous preclinical and clinical trials allows for control of the flora bacteria quantity, decreases in compounds derived from bacteria, and lowers proinflammatory production such as TNF-α, IL-6 and IFN-γ via down-regulation of the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κ B)..
    Results
    On the other hand, probiotic can reduce the urease activity of bacterial microflora. Furthermore, probiotic decreases fecal pH value and reduces ammonia adsorption. In addition, the serum level of liver enzymes and other substances synthesized by the liver are modulated subsequent to probiotic consumption..
    Conclusions
    According to our knowledge, Probiotic therapy as a safe, inexpensive and a noninvasive strategy can reduce pathophysiological symptoms and improve different types of liver diseases without side effects..
    Keywords: Probiotics, Liver Cirrhosis, Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Hepatic Encephalopathy, Liver Diseases, Alcoholic, Hepatitis, Carcinoma, Hepatocellular
  • Zeinab Fazeli, Mohsen Vahedi, Sara Ashtari, Mohammad Amin Pourhoseingholi Page 8
  • Soad Ghabeshi, Zohreh Sharifi, Seyed Masoud Hosseini, Mahmood Mahmoodian Shooshtari Page 10
    Background
    More than two billion people have been exposed to hepatitis B virus (HBV) worldwide. Furthermore, four hundred million of them are infected with chronic HBV infection. The predominant mutation of the precore region involves a G to A change at nucleotide1896, which creates a premature stop codon at codon 28. Two mutations of A1762T and G1764A are reported as the most prevalent mutations in the basal core promoter (BCP)..
    Objectives
    The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between mutations in precore (PC) and basal core promoter regions, and the viral load..Patients and
    Methods
    Fifty serum samples from patients with hepatitis B were used. Levels of liver enzymes alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were measured at the same time of serological markers of hepatitis B by ELISA. HBV-DNA was extracted from the sera, and then PCR performed on the HBV-DNA extracted with the use of specific primer of gene C. HBV viral load was determined by real-time PCR. The PC/ BCP mutations were determined by applying Line Probe Assay technique. The data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 20..
    Results
    Only 82% of the patients were HBeAb positive and 76% of the patients had basal core/ precore mutations and mean viral load was 3/7 × 106 ± 9/7 × 105 IU/ml. Prevalence of mutations in the precore and basal core promoter regions were 46% and 30%, respectively..
    Conclusions
    Our data indicated that there is a statistically significant relationship between HBV viral load and mutations in precore region (P < 0.05)..
    Keywords: Mutations_Hepatitis B Virus_Viral Load
  • Asghar Khoshnood, Mohsen Nasiri Toosi, Mohammad Jafar Faravash, Alireza Esteghamati, Hosein Froutan, Hadi Ghofrani, Mohammad Kalani, Arash Miroliaee, Ahmad Abdollahi, Andrabi Yasir Page 11
    Background
    Insulin-like growth factor is a polypeptide with endocrine, autocrine and paracrine effects which its structure is similar to the insulin molecule. While various tissues secrete IGF-1, 90% of the circulating IGF-1 is secreted by liver. Cirrhosis of liver is a condition accompanied by decreased level of IGF-1, in which the level of IGF-1 may be further decreased thorough the progression of the disease.
    Objectives
    The aim of the present study was to demonstrate the relation between the IGF-1 levels and severity of liver disease according to Child- Pugh and Model for end stage liver diseases (MELD) Scores..Patients and
    Method
    This was a descriptive-analytic cross sectional study performed on patients with cirrhosis admitted to gastroenterology clinic of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran, Iran during the years 2007-2008. The diagnosis was based on liver biopsy. Initially for all patients, laboratory investigations including IGF-1, CBC, liver Enzymes, Alkaline phosphates, serum Albumin, Creatinine, direct and total Bilirubin were conducted. Also ultrasound and endoscopy were performed for evaluation of ascites and varices..
    Results
    100 patients with cirrhosis with a male to Female ratio of 63:37 and a mean age of 44.4 ± 15 years were enrolled in the study. Median IGF-1 was 92.95 ± 91.51 ng/mL. 14 patients (14%) had IGF-1 within normal limits while 86 patients (86%) had abnormal IGF-1 levels. In all patients the correlation coefficient between IGF-1 and MELD was -0.317 (P = 0.001) and 0.478 between IGF-1 and Child- Pugh (P < 0.001)..
    Conclusions
    Our findings showed that IGF-1 can be used as an index for evaluating the severity of cirrhosis; also it can be used for determining the severity of the disease, when liver biopsy is not possible..
    Keywords: Insulin, Like Growth Factor I, Liver Cirrhosis, Child
  • Camelia Sultana, Simona Manuela Erscoiu, Camelia Grancea, Emanoil Ceausu, Simona Ruta Page 12
    Background
    Due to a recent alarming increase in the number of HIV-HCV co-infected patients in Romania..
    Objectives
    A cross sectional study was conducted to assess the baseline predictors of liver disease evolution..Patients and
    Methods
    83 HIV-HCV co-infected patients, untreated for HCV infection, were evaluated for viral replication, liver fibrosis (estimated by a noninvasive marker - FIB4), and plasma levels of IP-10 (interferon-gamma inducible protein 10) - a cytokine associated with an unfavorable outcome of HCV infection..
    Results
    The median value for HCV viral load was high (6.3 log10 IU/mL), 98.8% of the patients were infected with HCV genotype 1. Although 53% of the patients received antiretroviral therapy (cART), only 31.8% of these achieved undetectable HIV levels. HCV viral load was significantly higher in patients with AIDS (6.4 vs. 6.1 log10IU/mL; P = 0.04), and in those naïve for cART (6.5 vs. 5.9 log10 IU/mL; P = 0.04). Severe fibrosis was directly correlated with immunosupression (56% vs. 17.4%, P = 0.03), HCV replication (6.1 vs. 4.9 log10IU/mL P = 0.008), and IP-10 median values (312 vs. 139 pg/ml, P=0.008). A serum IP-10 level higher than 400 pg/mL was significantly associated with FIB-4 median values (4.09 vs. 1.7, P = 0.004), HCV viral load (6.4 vs. 6.1 log10 IU/mL, P = 0.02) and ALT level (206.8 vs. 112.4 IU/L, P = 0.05)..
    Conclusions
    An important part of the HIV-HCV co-infected patients had negative baseline predictors for the evolution of HCV infection; their therapeutical management must be conducted with special attention towards adherence and potential overlapping drug toxicities. High concentrations of plasma IP-10 are reliable markers for the severity of liver disease..
    Keywords: Coinfection, Romania, Biological Markers