Cytokeratin 18-Aspartate396 apoptotic fragment for fibrosis detection in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and chronic viral hepatitis.

Background: The combination of non-invasive markers for the detection of fibrosis in patients with chronic liver diseases is still a matter of debate.

Aims: To test the performance of cytokeratin18-Aspartate396 alone or in combination with transient elastography as a marker of fibrosis, compared to liver biopsy as gold standard.

Methods: In 259 prospectively enrolled patients with chronic liver diseases, clinical, biochemical, and histological features were assessed.

Fecal calprotectin is an effective diagnostic tool that differentiates inflammatory from functional intestinal disorders.

Background: The clinical pictures of functional gastrointestinal disorders and inflammatory diseases can be quite similar leading to inappropriate and expensive investigations. Objective. To investigate fecal calprotectin (FC) diagnostic performance in different gastrointestinal conditions.

Chronic hepatitis C virus infection and lymphoproliferative disorders: mixed cryoglobulinemia syndrome, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Background And Aim: Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) has been associated with lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD) such as mixed cryoglobulinemia syndrome (MCS), monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL). The aim of the present study is to assess MCS, MGUS, and B-NHL prevalence in a cohort of CHC-infected patients and to evaluate the association of demographic, clinical, and virologic factors with the presence of LPDs.

Methods: A total of 121 CHC patients with LPDs (50 M, 71 F; mean age 61.

IL28B polymorphism genotyping as predictor of rapid virologic response during interferon plus ribavirin treatment in hepatitis C virus genotype 1 patients.

Aim: To clarify the association of interleukin-28B (IL28B) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with hepatitis C virus (HCV) viremia changes for assessment of interferon (IFN) response.

Methods: A cohort of 118 Caucasian treatment-naïve HCV-G1 infected patients, treated with pegylated-IFN alpha 2a or 2b associated with ribavirin (53 responders, 65 non-responders) during the period 2010-2012, were genotyped for IL28B SNPs rs12979860 C>T and rs8099917 T>G. Genotyping was performed by real-time allelic discrimination assay.

Noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis: key messages for clinicians.

The management of patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) requires an accurate definition of the staging and grading, as the latter is related to the progression of liver fibrosis. Albeit liver biopsy (LB) is an invasive procedure with possible complications, it is currently the "gold standard" for the assessment of hepatic fibrosis. Over the past decade, several noninvasive approaches have been proposed as surrogates in the evaluation of liver fibrosis.