Downregulation of Methionine Cycle Genes and Enriches Protein-Associated Translation Process and Worsens Hepatocellular Carcinoma Prognosis.

The major biological methyl donor, -adenosylmethionine (adoMet) synthesis occurs mainly in the liver. Methionine adenosyltransferase 1A (MAT1A) and glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) are two key enzymes involved in the functional implications of that variation. We collected 42 RNA-seq data from paired hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its adjacent normal liver tissue from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).

Serum hepatitis B core-related antigen level stratifies risk of disease progression in chronic hepatitis B patients with intermediate viral load.

Background: Patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are at risk of developing liver disease. Serum hepatitis B core-related antigen (HBcrAg) is a new biomarker for intrahepatic templates for HBV replication.

Aim: To explore whether a high HBcrAg level is associated with increased risk of cirrhosis, especially in patients with intermediate viral load (HBV DNA 2000-19 999 IU/mL) due to their moderate risk of disease progression.

Permanent Inactivation of HBV Genomes by CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Non-cleavage Base Editing.

Current antiviral therapy fails to cure chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection because of persistent covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA). CRISPR/Cas9-mediated specific cleavage of cccDNA is a potentially curative strategy for chronic hepatitis B (CHB). However, the CRISPR/Cas system inevitably targets integrated HBV DNA and induces double-strand breaks (DSBs) of host genome, bearing the risk of genomic rearrangement and damage.

HEV superinfection accelerates disease progression in patients with chronic HBV infection and increases mortality in those with cirrhosis.

Background & Aims: Acute HEV infection causes varying degrees of liver damage. Although liver-related death due to HEV infection alone is rare in healthy individuals, it is unclear whether HEV superinfection is associated with worse outcomes in patients with chronic HBV infection. Thus, we explored whether HEV superinfection was associated with increased incidence of liver-related death, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Resistance-associated substitution and ledipasvir/sofosbuvir therapy in Mongolian chronic hepatitis C patients.

Background: Mongolia has the highest prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection worldwide. Ledipasvir/sofosbuvir (LDV/SOF) was introduced to Mongolia since 2016 for HCV eradication. It has been reported that HCV resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) would affect the effectiveness of LDV/SOF in western chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients.