Evaluation of ABCA1 gene polymorphism as a prognostic index of fibrosis progression in NAFLD patients.

Introduction: It had been evident that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the new era epidemic. Despite emergence of many drugs on the pipeline that considered candidates to cure NAFLD/NASH, the critical need for defining the cohort liable to fibrosis progression is yet unmet.

Aim: Evaluate ABCA1 (rs1800977) genotyping as a noninvasive predictor of liver fibrosis severity.

Impact of nitazoxanide on sustained virologic response in Egyptian patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 4: a double-blind placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Nitazoxanide, approved for the treatment of Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia, was found to inhibit hepatitis C virus replication.

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of nitazoxanide as an add-on therapy to pegylated interferon α-2a and ribavirin on sustained virologic response (SVR) in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Patients And Methods: A total of 200 patients with chronic hepatitis C were enrolled in the study, assigned randomly in a 1 : 1 ratio to two groups: group A (placebo group) and group B (nitazoxanide group).

Combined p53 and MDM2 biomarker analysis shows a unique pattern of expression associated with poor prognosis in patients with renal cell carcinoma undergoing radical nephrectomy.

Objective: To resolve much debated issues surrounding p53 function, expression and mutation in renal cell carcinoma (RCC), we performed the first study to simultaneously determine p53/MDM2 expression, TP53 mutational status (in p53-positive patients) and outcome in RCC.

Patients And Methods: In total, 90 specimens obtained from patients with RCC, who were treated by radical nephrectomy, were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for p53 and MDM2 on a tissue microarray, and p53 was functionally and genetically analyzed in p53 positive samples. Outcome analysis was by the Kaplan-Meier method and univariate analysis was used to identify variables for subsequent multivariate analysis of correlations between clinical parameters and biomarker expression.

Loss of MTBP expression is associated with reduced survival in a biomarker-defined subset of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Background: Recent genetic studies have implicated p53 mutation as a significant risk factor for therapeutic failure in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). However, in a recent meta-analysis in the literature of p53 from major anatomical subsites (larynx, oral cavity, oropharynx/hypopharynx), associations between patient survival and p53 status were ambiguous.

Methods: The authors examined a cohort of SCCHNs using a previously developed biomarker combination that likely predicts p53 status based on p53/MDM2 expression levels determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC).