Serum apoptosis markers related to liver damage in chronic hepatitis C: sFas as a marker of advanced fibrosis in children and adults while M30 of severe steatosis only in children.

Background: Liver biopsy represents the gold standard for evaluating damage and progression in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC); however, developing noninvasive tests that can predict liver injury represents a growing medical need. Considering that hepatocyte apoptosis plays a role in CHC pathogenesis; the aim of our study was to evaluate the presence of different apoptosis markers that correlate with liver injury in a cohort of pediatric and adult patients with CHC.

Methods: Liver biopsies and concomitant serum samples from 22 pediatric and 22 adult patients with CHC were analyzed.

The role of serum biomarkers in predicting fibrosis progression in pediatric and adult hepatitis C virus chronic infection.

Background/aims: Liver biopsy represents the gold standard for damage evaluation, but noninvasive serum markers that mirror liver fibrosis progression are actual goals both in adults and especially in children. The aim was to determine specific serum markers that correlate with liver fibrosis progression during chronic HCV infection.

Methods: Liver biopsies and concomitant serum samples from 22 pediatric and 22 adult HCV patients were analyzed.

Apoptosis markers related to pathogenesis of pediatric chronic hepatitis C virus infection: M30 mirrors the severity of steatosis.

Apoptosis involvement in liver damage related to hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronic infection has been suggested. Although liver biopsy represents the gold standard for evaluating disease severity, non-invasive tests are a growing medical need. The aim of this study was to detect apoptosis markers in liver and serum from pediatric HCV-infected patients and to assess its utility to predict liver damage progression.

Apoptosis markers in liver biopsy of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in pediatric patients.

The natural history of pediatric nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is still unknown; however, there are differences between adult and pediatric presentation. Apoptosis may play an important role in pathophysiologic pathways involved in liver damage and progression. Our aim was to detect early apoptosis markers, activated caspase-3 and cleaved cytokeratin-18, in hepatocytes and to correlate their presence with clinical, serologic, and histologic characteristics in pediatric nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Hepatitis A as an etiologic agent of acute liver failure in Latin America.

Background: This prospective, multicenter study examined the importance of hepatitis viruses as etiological agents of acute liver failure (ALF) and the outcome of ALF cases in Latin American children and adolescents.

Methods: The study was conducted for minimum 12 months in 9 centers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico during 2001-2002. Hospitalized patients aged 1-20 years with a suspected diagnosis of ALF were included in the study and tested for serologic markers for hepatitis A, B, and C viruses.

Hepatitis C virus infection in infants and children from Argentina.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is uncommon in children, and its natural history is still unknown. Our aim was to analyze exposure to HCV in 48 infants and children in Argentina and to evaluate consecutive samples in 26 of them to study the outcome of HCV infection in early stages. HCV viremia, as determined by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) from the 5' untranslated region, showed continuously positive, occasionally positive, and negative patterns during follow-up.