1/238. liver transplantation for endstage hepatitis c cirrhosis in a patient with primary hypogammaglobulinaemia.liver transplantation was performed in a patient with primary hypogammaglobulinaemia, chronic hepatitis c and hepatic failure. The immediate posttransplant period was uncomplicated. Owing to a stricture of the choledochojejunostomy the patient was reoperated with construction of a hepaticojejunostomy 11 months posttransplant. The patient remained hepatitis c virus (HCV) RNA-positive, with high and increasing levels of HCV. Liver biopsies demonstrated the recurrence of HCV. 14 months after the transplantation the patient developed severe diarrhoea caused by cryptosporidium parvum. The infection did not respond to available therapeutic measures. He deteriorated with development of liver failure and died 18 months after the transplantation. The present case report illustrates the difficulties associated with organ transplantation in patients with primary hypogammaglobulinaemia.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = infection (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/238. Ontogeny of hepatitis c virus (HCV) hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) heterogeneity and HVR1 antibody responses over a 3 year period in a patient infected with HCV type 2b.Hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) sequences of 96 clones at six time-points representing 27 variants in two major and one minor group were identified in a patient with chronic hepatitis c virus (HCV) infection over 3 years. Major and selected minor variants were used to design synthetic peptides corresponding to the HVR1 C terminus. Peptide ELISA reactivity with IgG was plotted against the corresponding clone frequency, and three patterns emerged: (1) three peptides were unreactive; (2) antibodies against two peptides followed emergence of the corresponding variant, suggesting isolate-specificity; (3) antibodies against four peptides preceded the appearance of the corresponding variant, indicating cross-reactivity or previous exposure. Cross-reactivity was investigated further: sera from six time-points were tested against 11 unrelated HVR1 peptides, seven of which (63.6%) showed cross-reactivity at all time-points. Cross-reactivity of nine patient-specific peptides tested against a panel of 45 heterologous sera from chronic HCV carriers ranged between 0 and 20%. Only three of 27 variants appeared at more than one time-point and in two cases specific and/or cross-reactive HVR1 antibodies coexisted with the corresponding variant, consistent with emergence of escape mutants. In addition, analysis of HVR1 IgG reactivity within a group of closely related patient-specific peptides revealed a loss of reactivity in one peptide attributable to a single amino acid substitution. interferon-alpha treatment considerably reduced viral RNA but, paradoxically, heterogeneity increased.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = infection (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/238. sarcoidosis with selective involvement of a second liver allograft: report of a case and review of the literature.A case of sarcoidosis recurrent in a patient's second liver allograft is described. There was no granulomatous disease seen in the patient's first liver allograft. After the second orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), the patient was successfully treated for acute rejection, aspergillus infection, and cytomegalovirus viremia. Approximately 2 months after the second OLT, the patient was treated with long-term interferon-alpha for recurrent hepatitis c. Five years after the operation, he experienced liver failure secondary to recurrent hepatitis and underwent a third OLT. This is only the second reported case of sarcoidosis recurrent in the liver parenchyma of a transplanted organ and the first in which interferon-alpha might have played a role.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = infection (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/238. Successful treatment of decompensated chronic viral hepatitis by bursal disease virus vaccine.Three cases of women with chronic liver inflammation caused by hepatitis b (two) and C (one) viral infections, were followed up to twelve years after diagnosis. As conventional therapy was ineffective and the patients progressed into decompensated liver disease, they were superinfected with massive doses of an attenuated variant (MTH-68/B) of the apathogenic avian Bursal disease virus (a double-stranded RNA virus from the birnaviridae family). Clinical symptoms and biochemical abnormalities were resolved in two patients following few months of virus treatment. Cirrhosis was stabilized and significant clinical improvement was achieved in the third patient--who before the virus therapy was moribund with recurring, diuretic-resistant ascites, variceal bleedings, portal encephalopathy and renal failure. To our knowledge, these are the first recorded cases of decompensated chronic viral hepatitis which went to long-lasting remission or were stabilized by superinfection with an apathogenic virus.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = infection (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/238. Secondary hyperparathyroidism exacerbation: a rare side-effect of interferon-alpha?Recombinant human interferon alpha (alpha IFN) is the only treatment with proven benefit for chronic hepatitis c virus (HCV) infection. Nevertheless its use in some susceptible individuals has led to the development or aggravation of different autoimmune conditions. We report the case of a 20 year old woman on peritoneal dialysis with chronic lobular hepatitis secondary to HCV infection who developed de novo psoriasis 9 months after starting treatment with alpha-IFN. In addition to psoriasis, alpha-IFN prescription was also concurrent with an unexpected and refractory secondary hyperparathyroidism exacerbation initially characterized by a marked reduction of serum calcium levels and a consequential increase of PTH. Both complications disappeared after drug withdrawal. The clinical sequence makes an alpha-IFN-induced autoimmune side effect the most plausible hypothesis. The case is discussed and some possible etiopathogenic factors are briefly reviewed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = infection (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/238. Response to treatment with interferon-alfa in patients with chronic hepatitis c and high titers of -M2, -M4 and -M8 antimitochondrial antibodies.The prevalence of antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) in chronic hepatitis c is 2%; titers of AMA are usually low (< 1:40). The prevalence decreases to 0.5% when the results are verified by determination of the M2 subtype (anti-M2, ELISA). In patients in whom both hepatitis c virus (HCV) and AMA are present, the therapeutic decision to give interferon-alfa is complicated, because AMA may be 'real', and if it reflects primary biliary cirrhosis, cholestasis can be triggered or exacerbated. This does not occur when AMA positivity results from induction by hepatotropic C virus; however, this is rarely the case when AMA titers are high (> 1:160). OBJECTIVE: to undertake a preliminary analysis of the submitochondrial profile of AMA in three patients with chronic hepatitis c and positive AMA titers (> 1:160). methods: we determined antibodies to submitochondrial particles (subtypes) -M2, -M4 and -M8 by ELISA, complement binding (CB) and western immunoblotting with Immunoblot-M2 or WIB-M2 (immunoreactive bands). RESULTS: two patients were positive for mitochondrial subtypes by ELISA (IgG/IgM subclass) and CB (ELISA M2 470/365 in patient 1 and 600/1370 in patient 2; M4 490/1200 in patient 2. CB M2 1:128, M4 1:64, M8 1:64 in patient 1, M2 1:128 in patient 2). Immunoreactive epitopes (bands) were detected with WIB-M2 for 70, 56, 51, 45 and 36-kDa molecules. Interferon-alfa treatment was unsuccessful, with biochemical exacerbation of cholestasis. In contrast, the patient with no submitochondrial particles according to ELISA, CB and WIB-M2 results responded favorable to this drug. CONCLUSION: these preliminary results suggest that analyses to detect antibodies to submitochondrial particles (-M2, -M4 and -M8 subtypes) and -M2-immunoreactive epitopes in patients with chronic hepatitis c and AMA titers > 1:160 facilitates the diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis, and establishes a contraindication for treatment with interferon-alfa despite the presence of HCV infection.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = infection (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/238. Acquired factor viii inhibitor in a non-hemophilic patient with chronic hepatitis c viral infection.Production of coagulation factor viii inhibitor is rarely encountered in non-hemophilic patients. A 63-year-old Japanese male suffered from severe bleeding tendency caused by this inhibitor. Although he did not have malignancy or collagen disease, he had chronic hepatitis c virus (HCV) infection. Although HCV is known to induce production of various autoimmune antibodies, this may be the first report of a case with both acquired factor viii inhibitor and HCV infection.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 6keywords = infection (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/238. pericarditis after therapy with interferon-alpha for chronic hepatitis c.We report a patient with pericarditis following therapy with interferon-alpha for chronic hepatitis c viral infection. Possible relationships between pericarditis, hepatitis c and its treatment with interferon-alpha are briefly discussed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = infection (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/238. Mother-to-infant transmission of hepatitis c virus: molecular evidence of superinfection by homologous virus in children.BACKGROUND/AIM: Vertical transmission of hepatitis c virus (HCV) is well established but its incidence is low. To assess the molecular evidence of mother-to-infant transmission or intrafamilial transmission of HCV, the NS5 B region and the hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) of the E2/NS1 region of the HCV genome from each member of a family were investigated. methods: A 35-year-old mother with chronic hepatitis c virus infection and her four infected boys were studied. The same HCV 1a genotype was found in all five. Phylogenetic analysis was done by the neighbor-joining, the maximum likelihood, and the maximum parsimony methods. RESULTS: Comparison of the phylogenetic trees in the NS5B and HVR1 regions showed that the sequences in the children were more closely related to the population of variants of their own mother than to any genotype la sequence available in the databases. However, four HVR1 clones from two brothers (E2 and E3) had a strong homology, but were significantly divergent from the variants of the mother. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that a cluster of HCV strains exists in the family and that E3 could have been superinfected by E2 HCV strains and reciprocally. In conclusion, phylogenetic analysis through variable regions of the genome suggests that at least two modes of transmission are involved in this family: perinatal and horizontal.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = infection (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/238. Primary cutaneous B-cell lymphoma: an association of chronic hepatitis c infection.Primary cutaneous B-cell lymphoma is a low-grade malignancy, distinct from other lymphomas in terms of biological activity and response to treatment. We describe a 77-year-old woman with a five-year history of chronic hepatitis c infection who developed a lower-limb lesion over a period of 3 months which was diagnosed as a high-grade cutaneous B-cell lymphoma. Despite a lack of definitive evidence implicating hepatitis c virus (HCV) in the aetiology of lymphomas, there is considerable research which establishes a strong association between these two diseases. On the basis of published research and the demonstration of HCV RNA in the lymphomatous tissue, we consider this to be a rare case of primary cutaneous lymphoma in association with hepatitis c.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = infection (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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