Hepatitis C virus kinetics during the first phase of pegylated interferon-alpha-2b with ribavirin therapy in patients with living donor liver transplantation.

Aim: To identify the problems of pegylated interferon (PEG IFN) with ribavirin therapy against hepatitis C virus (HCV) reinfection in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) patients. HCV kinetics during the PEG IFN with ribavirin therapy were analyzed in LDLT patients, as well as in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients.

Methods: The study included 80 consecutive HCV infected patients undergoing PEG IFN with ribavirin therapy (64 CHC and 16 LDLT patients) who attended the Nagasaki University Hospital for an initial visit between January 2005 and December 2007.

Interferon-alpha-induced mTOR activation is an anti-hepatitis C virus signal via the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-Akt-independent pathway.

Object: The interferon-induced Jak-STAT signal alone is not sufficient to explain all the biological effects of IFN. The PI3-K pathways have emerged as a critical additional component of IFN-induced signaling. This study attempted to clarify that relationship between IFN-induced PI3-K-Akt-mTOR activity and anti-viral action.

A snack enriched with oral branched-chain amino acids prevents a fall in albumin in patients with liver cirrhosis undergoing chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Nutritional support may play an important role in management of liver cirrhosis (LC) associated with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Total protein and albumin deteriorate in patients with LC undergoing trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE). Therefore, in this study, we examined the hypothesis that short-term administration of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) will prevent a fall in total protein and albumin in the perioperative period.