Interleukin-21 gene polymorphisms and chronic hepatitis B infection in a Chinese population.

Aim: To investigate the relationship between interleukin-21 (IL21) gene polymorphisms and chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in a Chinese population.

Methods: In this case-control study, 366 Chinese HBV-infected patients were recruited and divided into hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; n = 94) and non-HCC (n = 272) groups at The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, from April 2009 to December 2012. In the non-HCC group, the patients were classified into three clinical subsets, 76 patients had chronic hepatitis B, 101 were HBV carriers and 95 patients had HBV-related cirrhosis.

Apolipoprotein C3 (-455T>C) polymorphism confers susceptibility to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in the Southern Han Chinese population.

Aim: To investigate the relationship between Apolipoprotein C3 (APOC3) (-455T>C) polymorphism and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the Southern Chinese Han population.

Methods: In this prospective case-control study, we recruited 300 NAFLD patients and 300 healthy controls to a cohort representing Southern Chinese Han population at The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, from January to December 2012. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and DNA sequencing were used to genotype the APOC3 (-455T>C) variants.

[Imbalance of CD4(+) T cell subgroups in ulcerative colitis].

Objective: To investigate the relationship of the imbalance of CD4(+) T cell subgroups and the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC).

Methods: Peripheral blood samples were collected from 24 UC patients and 17 healthy donors. Then the phenotype of CD4(+) T cells and the major transcription factor expression of each subset were analyzed by flow cytometry and real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) respectively.