Search results for " hepatitis"

Simplified criteria for the diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis

2008

Diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) may be challenging. However, early diagnosis is important because immunosuppression is life-saving. Diagnostic criteria of the International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group (IAIHG) were complex and purely meant for scientific purposes. This study of the IAIHG aims to define simplified diagnostic criteria for routine clinical practice. Candidate criteria included sex, age, autoantibodies, immunoglobulins, absence of viral hepatitis, and histology. The training set included 250 AIH patients and 193 controls from 11 centers worldwide. Scores were built from variables showing predictive ability in univariate analysis. Diagnostic value of each score was assesse…

Regulation of microRNAs and their role in liver development, regeneration and disease

2013

Abstract Since their discovery more than a decade ago microRNAs have been demonstrated to have profound effects on almost every aspect of biology. Numerous studies in recent years have shown that microRNAs have important roles in development and in the etiology and progression of disease. This review is focused on microRNAs and the roles they play in liver development, regeneration and liver disease; particularly chronic liver diseases such as alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, viral hepatitis and primary liver cancer. The key microRNAs identified in liver development and chronic liver disease will be discussed together with, where pos…

Gender differences in chronic liver diseases in two cohorts of 2001 and 2014 in Italy

2017

Background: Gender differences in chronic liver disease (CLD) have been partially investigated. To extend the present knowledge, we evaluated 12,263 patients with CLD enrolled in two national surveys (9997 in 2001 and 2557 in 2014). Methods: The two surveys prospectively recruited patients aged ≥ 18 referring to Italian liver units throughout the country using a similar clinical approach and analytical methods. Results: The overall male to female ratio (M/F) was 1.4 (7138/5124). Compared with females, males were significantly more likely to be younger (52.9 vs. 58.7 yrs.), with HBV infection alone (13.2% vs. 9.2%) and with alcoholic liver disease alone (11.4% vs. 6.9%), but less likely t…

Meet–Test–Treat for HCV management: patients’ and clinicians’ preferences in hospital and drug addiction services in Italy

2022

Abstract Background It has been estimated that the incidence of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) will not decline over the next 10 years despite the improved efficacy of antiviral therapy because most patients remain undiagnosed and/or untreated. This study aimed to investigate the opinion of relevant target populations on the practicability, effectiveness and best modalities of the test-and-treat approach in the fight against HCV in Italy. Methods A survey was delivered to patients with HCV from the general population, patients from drug addiction services, hospital physicians and healthcare providers for drug addiction services. Results For both hospital clinicians and SerD HCPs, tolerabil…

The HCV Sicily Network: A web-based model for the management of HCV chronic liver diseases

2016

Epidemiological studies report that in Sicily reside about 30,000 citizens with a diagnosis of chronic hepatitis due to HCV. The availability of direct antiviral action (DAA) is a real therapeutic breakthrough, but the high cost of the therapeutic regimes limits their use and forced the National Health System to establish clinical priority for the treatment.The HCV Sicily Network is a web-based model of best medical practice, which was designed to improve the management and the treatment of HCV chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis. The network includes 41 centers and 84 gastroenterologists or infectivologists connected by a web platform that recorder the diagnosis and the clinic priority for the…

A randomized trial of peginterferon alpha-2a with or without ribavirin for HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B

2010

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and autoimmune liver diseases

1992

Anti-HCV tests were positive in 18–45% of sera from patients with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis. High gammaglobulin levels may result in false positive results, however, some sera show true positivity. PCR testing of such sera is necessary in order to determine whether HCV is directly involved in specific forms of the disease.

Characterization of the overlap syndrome of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and autoimmune hepatitis: Evidence for it being a hepatitic form of PBC i…

1999

Some patients with autoimmune liver disease present with a clinical and/or histological picture showing characteristic findings of both autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Various names, mostly overlap syndrome, have been used to describe these cases, which have thus far not been more closely characterized. The aim of this study was the comparison of 20 patients with overlapping features to representative patients considered suffering from typical AIH or typical PBC (20 patients in each group). We found these patients to indeed show a very mixed picture of both conditions biochemically, serologically, and histologically. However, closer analysis suggested that al…

Treatment challenges and investigational opportunities in autoimmune hepatitis.

2005

New drugs and advances in molecular biology afford opportunities to upgrade the treatment of autoimmune hepatitis. The aims of this study were to define treatment problems, identify possible solutions, and stimulate investigations to improve patient care. A clinical subcommittee of the International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group reviewed current management difficulties and proposed corrective actions. The assessment of new front-line and salvage therapies for adults and children were given top priority. Cyclosporine and mycophenolate mofetil were endorsed as drugs worthy of rigorous study in severe disease, and budesonide was endorsed for study as front-line therapy in mild disease. Diagnostic…

Fine specificity of autoantibodies to soluble liver antigen and liver/pancreas

2002

Autoantibodies to soluble liver antigen and liver pancreas (SLA/LP) have been described as specific markers for Autoimmune Hepatitis (AIH), occurring in about 20% of patients with AIH. The high degree of specificity for SLA/LP in autoimmune liver disease suggests a possible role in its pathogenesis. This study aims to map the exact epitope(s) recognized by SLA/LP autoantibodies and to assess the role of molecular mimicry between microbial antigens and self-epitopes. Using SLA/LP-reactive sera of 18 individual AIH patients and a pool of 15 patient sera, we found the dominant immune reactivity directed to peptide p395-414 and a less prominent immune response to 2 other epitopes adjacent to th…