Search results for "Viral hepatitis."

Signal sequences modulate the immunogenic performance of human hepatitis C virus E2 gene

2005

Abstract Envelope protein E2 of human hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an attractive component of a prototype HCV vaccine. Delivered by DNA immunogens, E2 evokes specific immune response of Th1-type, failing to induce either considerable antibody production, or T-helper cell proliferation. We aimed at modulating the immunogenic performance of E2 gene by changing the mode of protein expression in eukaryotic cells. Plasmids were constructed encoding full-length E2 and nonstructural protein 1 (p7) fused to either 13 or 38 C-terminal amino acids (aa) of HCV E1 that contain second hydrophobic segment of E1 stop-transfer signal, or a complete E1 stop-transfer signal with duplicated second hydrophobic s…

Hepatitis B vaccination and interleukin 2 receptor expression in chronic renal failure

1990

Hepatitis B vaccination and interleukin-2 receptor expression in chronic renal failure. Only 50 to 60% of dialysis patients develop anti-HBs antibodies following hepatitis b vaccination. The nonre-sponder state correlates with impaired monocyte function, decreased interleukin-2 (IL-2) production of T cells, and an upregulation of the IL-2 receptor system. In the present study we examined anti-HBs production after hepatitis B vaccination and the in vitro expression of IL-2 receptors in nondialyzed patients with various degrees of chronic renal failure. Forty-four patients with impaired renal function were immunized with 20 µg recombinant hepatitis B vaccine and boostered after one and six mo…

July 2003: 62-year-old female with progressive muscular weakness

2004

The July 2003 Case of the Month (COM). A 62-year-old female patient experienced progressive muscular weakness over the last ten years, involving shoulder and pelvic girdle muscles, paraspinal and facial muscles. A biopsy was taken from the left deltoid muscle where hepatitis vaccination had taken place 4 weeks previously. The specimen revealed macrophagic myofasciitis due to the injection of aluminium-bound vaccines. The finding can be reproduced experimentally by injecting vaccines in rats. The pathomechanism is supposed to involve immune stimulation due to long term persistence of the adjuvant. Macrophagic myofasciitis has been suggested to occasionally cause myopathy but is supposed to b…

Prophylaxis, diagnosis and therapy of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection : The German guidelines on the management of HCV infection

2010

The Level of Cytokeratin 18 in Patients with HIV and Viral Hepatitis C Co-Infection in Latvia

2020

Abstract Cytokeratin 18 (CK18) is a specific marker of hepatocellular apoptosis, which is a useful noninvasive indicator of liver fibrosis in the HIV/HCV group. However, data on the CK18 level in serum are limited for this group. This study demonstrated CK18 levels in serum in HIV/HCV co-infected and HIV mono-infected patients; investigated the association of CK18 levels with other non-invasive markers of liver fibrosis; and presents CK18 dynamics in a four-month-long period. The sample included 273 patients with HIV infection (128 of them were with HIV/HCV co-infection) aged from 23 to 65 (35% females). Levels of hyaluronic acid, CK18, ALT, and AST were determined in serum, and the FIB4 in…

High performance of intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion MRI in detecting viral hepatitis-b induced liver fibrosis.

2019

Background: Recently a small cohort study demonstrated that intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) diffusion MRI can detect early stage liver fibrosis. Using modified IVIM data acquisition parameters, the current study aims to confirm this finding. Methods: Twenty-six healthy volunteers, three patients of chronic viral hepatitis-b but without fibrosis and one mild liver steatosis subject, and 12 viral hepatitis-b patients with fibrosis (stage 1–2=7, stage 3–4=5) were included in this study. With a 1.5-T MR scanner and respiration-gating, IVIM diffusion imaging was acquired using a single-shot echo-planar sequence with a b -value series of 2, 0, 1, 15, 20, 30, 45, 50, 60, 80, 100, 200, 300, 600…

The case for simplifying and using absolute targets for viral hepatitis elimination goals

2021

The 69th World Health Assembly endorsed the Global Health Sector Strategy for Viral Hepatitis, embracing a goal to eliminate hepatitis infection as a public health threat by 2030. This was followed by the World Health Organization's (WHO) global targets for the care and management of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. These announcements and targets were important in raising awareness and calling for action; however, tracking countries’ progress towards these elimination goals has provided insights to the limitations of these targets. The existing targets compare a country's progress relative to its 2015 values, penalizing countries who started their programmes …

Imūnā atbildes reakcija uz vakcināciju pret vīrushepatītu B hemodialīzes pacientiem

2018

Pamatojums: Hemodialīzes (HD) pacientiem ir paaugstināts ar asinīm pārnesamām infekciju risks, piemēram, vīrushepatīta B infekcija (HBV). Pacientiem ar terminālu nieru mazspēju bieži ir imūnsistēmas nomākums, kas rezultējās ar nepietiekamu imūnās atbildes reakciju pret HBV vakcināciju. Adekvāta imunoloģiska atbilde it tad, ja anti-HBs-antivielu titrs >10 mSV/ml. Lai gan atbildes reakcija vispārējā populācijā ir aptuveni 95%, HD pacientiem tā ir robežās no 50-80%. Mērķis: noteikt HBV infekcijas izplatību, identificēt imūno atbildes reakciju HD pacientiem uz HBV vakcināciju un izvērtēt tās ietekmējošus klīniskus un laboratoriskus faktorus. Materiāli un metodes: Tika analizēta HBV izplatība HD…

Modeling cost-effectiveness and health gains of a “universal” versus “prioritized” hepatitis C virus treatment policy in a real-life cohort

2017

We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of two alternative direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment policies in a real-life cohort of hepatitis C virus–infected patients: policy 1, “universal,” treat all patients, regardless of fibrosis stage; policy 2, treat only “prioritized” patients, delay treatment of the remaining patients until reaching stage F3. A liver disease progression Markov model, which used a lifetime horizon and health care system perspective, was applied to the PITER cohort (representative of Italian hepatitis C virus–infected patients in care). Specifically, 8,125 patients naive to DAA treatment, without clinical, sociodemographic, or insurance restrictions, were us…

Optimizing the treatment of chronic hepatitis due to hepatitis C virus genotypes 2 and 3: a review

2009

Recently several randomized trials involving exclusively HCV 2 and 3 patients have explored the possibility of reducing the duration of therapy with PEG IFNs and ribavirin to 12–16 weeks. Among these, the largest studies (ACCELERATE, NORTH-C and NORDynamIC) have failed to demonstrate, by intention-to-treat analysis, that short treatment is non-inferior to the standard duration of 24 weeks originated by phase 3 trials. Even though obtaining univocal conclusions from these studies are difficult to obtain due to some critical differences (trial design, genotypes 2/3 ratio, rate of cirrhosis at baseline, ribavirin dose, assays to detect HCV-RNA etc), all have proved that a rapid virological res…