GBV-C/HGV-RNA in serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells in hemodialysis patients.

Background: Hemodialysis patients are at high risk of hepatitis B, C, and G virus infection. The prevalence of GBV-C/HGV-RNA was analyzed in serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 52 hemodialysis patients.

Methods: GBV-C/HGV-RNA detection was performed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with primers of 5'-noncoding (5'-NC) and NS3 regions of the GBV-C/HGV genome.

Sequence variation of hepatitis B virus precore-core open reading frame isolated from serum and liver of children with chronic hepatitis B before and after interferon treatment.

DNA and amino acid sequences of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome were studied in serum and liver samples taken from 12 children with chronic hepatitis B before and after interferon (IFN) therapy. The purpose was to discover whether the persistence of low levels of viral replication with normal alanine aminotransferases after the response to IFN treatment is due to the appearance of mutations in the sequence of HB core antigen T and B cell epitopes. The existence of mutants was studied by amplification of precore-core region of the HBV genome by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and direct sequencing of the PCR products.

Transplantation of allogeneic CD34-selected peripheral stem cells does not prevent transmission of hepatitis C virus from an infected donor.

There is little information on the clinical course of transplantation from HCV-positive donors. However, it seems that there is no increased risk of acute liver failure after the procedure and that the presence of HCV-RNA in serum is necessary for transmission to take place. We report a case of allogeneic CD34-selected peripheral stem cell transplantation from an HCV-infected donor with viremia with a special clinical and virological course.

Occupational asthma caused by champignon flies.

Background: Occupational bronchial asthma in mushroom (champignon) workers is unusual, although reports on it appeared in 1938 and 1951; we have not found any others since those dates. Here we report the case of a 52-year-old man who works as a champignon cultivator. He suffered rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma attacks whenever he entered the champignon culture caves.

Histological damage in chronic hepatitis C is not related to the extent of infection in the liver.

It has not been completely elucidated whether the liver injury induced by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is due to direct cytopathic damage or to an immune-mediated response against HCV-infected hepatocytes. In this work, we have determined the percentage of HCV-infected hepatocytes, the histological activity index, and the viremia levels in chronically HCV-infected patients with different grades of liver injury to investigate any possible correlation between them. For that purpose, liver biopsies from 27 patients with HCV chronic hepatitis were analyzed by in situ hybridization.

Phylogenetic analysis of hepatitis GB virus type C/hepatitis G virus in Spanish patients with chronic hepatitis B or C virus infection.

The nucleotide sequence of hepatitis GB virus type C (HGBV-C)/hepatitis G virus (HGV) NS3/helicase and 5'-untranslated regions from 23 Spanish patients were analyzed to assign the HGV isolates one of the proposed HGBV-C/HGV genotypes. The analysis of the evolutionary distance frequency showed that the distances among all sequences in NS3/helicase region were distributed around a single peak of 0.20, suggesting that all included sequences belonged to the same HGBV-C/HGV genotype.

Glucocorticoid regulation of ornithine decarboxylase in the postnatal rat lung.

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) is thought to play a critical role in pulmonary development. The purpose of this study was to characterize the effects of dexamethasone on ODC gene expression and enzyme activity in the lung of rat pups. Subcutaneous administration of dexamethasone (10 mg/kg) was shown to suppress ODC activity in 2-, 6- and 10-day-old rats for as long as 24 h after injection.

Involvement of c-myc and max in CNS beta-endorphin modulation of hepatic ornithine decarboxylase responsiveness to insulin in rat pups.

Previously, we have shown that subcutaneous administration of insulin stimulates ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) mRNA expression and enzymatic activity in the liver of infant control rats, but not in those pretreated intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.

Hepatitis B virus X protein transactivates the inducible nitric oxide synthase promoter.

The capability of hepatitis B virus (HBV) to increase the transcription of the human hepatic inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) by transactivating its promoter has been studied. We have observed by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) that although the mRNA for the iNOS was almost undetectable in the human hepatoblastoma cell line, HepG2, it was constitutively expressed in the 2.2.

Analysis of the hepatitis B virus precore and ORF-X sequences in patients with antibody to hepatitis B e antigen with and without normal ALT levels.

Serum samples from 20 anti-hepatitis B e antigen-positive patients with and without normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels who had serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA detectable only by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were examined. Viral DNA was amplified by PCR, using primers that encompassed precore and ORF-X regions and sequenced directly, to investigate whether mutations in the nucleotide sequences of X and precore gene regions of HBV-DNA might be responsible for the difference in the activity of disease and in the levels of viral replication. The HBV-DNA concentration in patients with abnormal ALT levels was higher than in those with normal ALT.

In vitro inhibition of the hepatitis delta virus replication mediated by interferon and trans-ribozyme or antisense probes.

Background/aims: In this study, the inhibition of hepatitis delta virus replication mediated by trans-ribozyme and antisense probes, alone or in combination with recombinant interferon alpha-2a, has been assayed.

Methods: A 60-nucleotide-long designed trans-ribozyme, which contains the catalytic core of the hammerhead ribozyme, and a 163-nucleotide-long antisense probe were directed against the same region of the viral genome in in vitro and cell culture systems.

Results: The ribozyme activity, assayed in a chemically isolated system, resulted in the trans-cleavage of 10-20% of the 40-nucleotide-long RNA substrate.

Relative quantification and mapping of hepatitis C virus by in situ hybridization and digital image analysis.

Although several reports concerning the detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) by in situ hybridization have been published, there are no data concerning the relative viral load in infected hepatocytes or about its relation with serum viremia levels. To address these issues, liver biopsies from 10 patients with chronic hepatitis C were analyzed by in situ hybridization and digital image analysis of hybridization signals. Serum HCV RNA levels were measured using the Amplicor Monitor test.

Double-blind, randomized controlled trial of interleukin-2 treatment of chronic hepatitis B.

Pilot studies have demonstrated that recombinant interleukin 2 (rIL-2) has an indirect antiviral activity against hepatitis B virus, but the minimal dose of rIL-2 for induction of this effect was not defined. The aim of the study was to ascertain the most efficient dose of rIL-2 for induction of the loss of detectable serum HBV-DNA or a 50% or greater decrease in its level. Thirty-one patients with chronic hepatitis B, hepatitis B e antigen and serum HBV-DNA positive were enrolled in this double-blind randomized controlled trial.

Ketomethylene and methyleneamino pseudopeptide analogues of insect allatostatins inhibit juvenile hormone and vitellogenin production in the cockroach Blattella germanica.

Metabolic studies on insect allatostatins have suggested that the dipeptide Leu-Tyr may be a target for endopeptidases. In order to increase resistance to degradation, methyleneamino psi [CH2NH] and ketomethylene psi [COCH2] peptide bond surrogates have been introduced at the position Leu3-Tyr4 of the allatostatin Asp-Arg-Leu-Tyr-Ser-Phe-Gly-Leu-amide (BLAST-2), and Leu3-Phe4 of [Phe4]BLAST-2, respectively. Assays of inhibition of juvenile hormone (JH) synthesis in vitro by corpora allata from the cockroach Blattella germanica showed that both analogues were similarly active to the respective model peptides.

Activation of liver disease in healthy hepatitis B surface antigen carriers during interferon-alpha treatment.

Fifty percent of healthy hepatitis B surface antigen carriers may have histologically proven chronic hepatitis. Our aim was to study the benefit of interferon-alpha in healthy patients. Twenty-nine hepatitis B surface antigen carriers with normal liver enzymes and with serum hepatitis B virus DNA were randomized into two groups: Group I, 14 patients treated with 9 megaunits of interferon alpha-2a thrice weekly for six months, and Group II, 15 control patients.

Hepatitis B virus DNA in serum and blood cells of hepatitis B surface antigen-negative hemodialysis patients and staff.

Patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis, as well as dialysis staff members, are at high risk of infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV). We have analyzed by PCR the presence of HBV DNA in serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 33 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative hemodialysis patients and 24 dialysis unit staff members; eight of the 24 staff members had an acute hepatitis B resolved 13 to 21 yr before. HBV DNA was detected in serum of 19 (58%) patients (12 of 17 with and 7 of 16 without anti-HBV antibodies).

GB virus C RNA in serum, liver, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with chronic hepatitis B, C, and D.

Background & Aims: No conclusive data about GB virus C (GBV-C) tropism are available. We have studied the presence of genomic and antigenomic GBV-C RNA in serum, liver, and peripheral blood cells of 56 patients with chronic hepatitis B, C, or D virus infection.

Methods: Genomic and antigenomic GBV-C RNA were detected by reverse-transcription nested polymerase chain reaction.

Hepatitis C and G virus infection and liver dysfunction after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation: results from a prospective study.

Acute and chronic liver dysfunction is common after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Although toxicity, graft versus-host disease (GVHD), and viral infections are the major causes, etiologic diagnosis is difficult and often remains unknown. We conducted a prospective study to establish the role of the infection with both the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the recently discovered hepatitis G virus (HGV) in liver dysfunction after BMT.

Central administration of morphine inhibits brain and liver ornithine decarboxylase activity in neonatal rats: involvement of transcription- and non-transcription-dependent mechanisms.

This study examined whether the developmental deficits usually observed in infants born to opiate addicted mothers could involve effects on ornithine decarboxylase, a growth-controlling enzyme. Intracerebroventricular (i.c.

Detection of hepatitis G virus from serum and liver of a patient with long-term liver dysfunction after autologous bone marrow transplantation.

Long-term effects after blood or bone marrow transplantation (BMT) are emerging as an important issue, as more patients are included in BMT programmes and as this procedure becomes more successful. Long-term liver dysfunction, mainly due to chronic graft-versus-host disease or hepatitis C virus infection, is a well-known complication. Nevertheless, the diagnosis of liver disease in this patient group is sometimes difficult and, despite adequate studies, it may remain undetected.

Detection of hepatitis GB virus type C RNA in serum and liver from children with chronic viral hepatitis B and C.

The aim of this work was to study the presence of the hepatitis GB virus type C (HGBV-C) in liver and serum samples of children with chronic viral hepatitis, the time course of changes in viral RNA, and the possible acquisition routes of infection. Frozen serum and liver samples from 58 children with chronic hepatitis B (n = 33) or C (n = 25) were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction. Twenty-seven children had been included in different interferon trials.

Decreased nitric oxide production in chronic viral hepatitis B and C.

Nitric oxide is a free radical gas molecule which may be implicated in antiviral defense. However, there is no information about its possible role in chronic viral hepatitis B and C. In this study we have analyzed the serum levels of NO2- (as an index of nitric oxide generation) from patients with chronic viral hepatitis B and C and relationship of same with the response to interferon therapy.

Pilot interferon-beta trial in children with chronic hepatitis B who had previously not responded to interferon-alpha therapy.

Background: Recombinant interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) treatment is useful in 40% of children with chronic hepatitis B. However, nonresponder children continue to have viral replication and a progressive disease.

Objective: To administer natural IFN-beta to hepatitis B virus chronic carrier children who had not responded to a previous IFN-alpha cycle.