17,β-estradiol inhibits hepatitis C virus mainly by interference with the release phase of its life cycle.

Background & Aims: Oestrogen and oestrogen-mediated signalling protect from hepatitis C virus through incompletely understood mechanisms. We aimed to ascertain which phase(s) of hepatitis C virus life cycle is/are affected by oestrogens.

Methods: Huh7 cells infected with the JFH1 virus (genotype 2a) were exposed to dehydroepiandrosterone, testosterone, progesterone and 17β-estradiol (tested with/without its receptor antagonist fulvestrant).

Can apical ballooning cardiomyopathy and anterior STEMI be differentiated based on β1 and β2-adrenergic receptors polymorphisms?

Aim: Catecholamine excess along with an exaggerated sympathetic stimulation appears to play a major role in the pathophysiological mechanism of tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC), which mimics acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The aim of the present study was to investigate differences in the distribution of allelic variants of β1- and β2-adrenoceptors between TTC and anterior STEMI patients compared to normal subjects.

Methods And Results: β1- and/or β2-adrenoceptor polymorphisms in 97 patients with TTC (92 females, 96%; mean age 66.

Fibrosis progression in HCV carriers with mild hepatitis who possess the high-repetition variant of the DRD4 gene, a genetic marker for binge-drinking and risk-seeking behavior: a longitudinal study.

Background: Alcohol is a major determinant of the outcome of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, but self-reported drinking habits lack reliability. We hypothesized that carriage of high-repetition variants (HRV) of the variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) in exon III of the dopamine receptor D4 gene, linked to binge-drinking and risk-seeking behavior, might be a proxy measure of alcohol consumption, and aimed to verify whether it may affect histologic outcome.

Methods: A cohort of HCV patients with normal or near-normal aminotransferases (N = 128) underwent a liver biopsy as part of diagnostic work-up.

IL28B polymorphism, blood interferon-alpha concentration, and disease stage of HCV mono-infected and HCV-HIV co-infected patients.

Interferon (IFN) preactivation, interleukin-28B (IL28B) alleles, and liver fibrosis act as predictors of response to antiviral therapy against hepatitis C. We aimed to verify if blood IFN concentration, a putative biomarker of interferon preactivation, might depend on carriage of a given IL28B genotype and/or advanced hepatic fibrosis. The study population included 187 hepatitis C patients (75 of whom were HIV coinfected), who were genotyped for the rs12979860 polymorphism and staged non-invasively by transient elastography.

Hepatitis B virus and lymphomagenesis: novel insights into an occult relationship.

Background: Increasing evidence shows that Hepatitis B virus infection associates with B-cell but not T-cell malignancies. It remains unclear (a) whether this association is restricted to discrete subtypes of B-cell neoplasms and (b) if occult hepatitis B virus infection can impact on the risk of B-cell malignancy.

Methods: We analysed the prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus infection in three age and sex matched groups: patients with multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and healthy volunteers (N=80 each group).