Role of cytokines in the assessment of the severity of chronic hepatitis C and the prediction of response to therapy.

Aims: (i) To characterize serum levels of pro/anti-inflammatory cytokines in non-cirrhotics with hepatitis C; (ii) to correlate levels of these cytokines with degree of disease at baseline; and (iii) to characterize the immuno-modulatory effects of therapy with response.

Methods: We studied 103 patients that were part of randomized, controlled, clinical trials. Serum cytokines were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

An electron microscopic and morphometric study of ursodeoxycholic effect in primary biliary cirrhosis.

Background/aims: Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic liver disease that results in cholestasis and bile duct loss. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) has been shown to reduce hepatocellular damage in PBC. The study attempted to quantify perisinusoidal collagenization and the number of apoptotic bodies in PBC liver biopsies from patients in a randomized control trial treated with UDCA compared to those who received placebo.

Ethanol signals for apoptosis in cultured skin cells.

Ethanol is commonly used in cosmetic and pharmaceutical preparations. To test whether ethanol may cause apoptosis in skin cells, we treated A431 epidermoid skin cells and neonatal human primary skin cells with different concentrations of ethanol, for different time periods. Ethanol was toxic to cells in both a dose- and time-dependent manner and increased the percentage of cells undergoing apoptosis.

Serum tumour necrosis factor-alpha and transforming growth factor-beta levels in chronic hepatitis C patients are immunomodulated by therapy.

Our aims were: (i) to characterize serum levels of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) in non-cirrhotics with hepatitis C; (ii) to correlate levels of theses cytokines with degree of disease at baseline; (iii) to characterize the immunomodulatory effects of therapy with response and (iv) to compare profiles of cytokines in patients treated with pegylated-interferon alpha-2b monotherapy (PMT) vs its combination with ribavirin (PCT1-low dose ribavirin and PCT2-high dose ribavirin). We studied 56 patients that were part of two randomized, controlled, clinical trials. At baseline, high TNF-alpha levels paralleled the degree of inflammation as determined by histology.