11β‑hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase‑1 is associated with the activation of hepatic stellate cells in the development of hepatic fibrosis.

Hepatic fibrosis (HF) is a common complication of numerous chronic liver diseases, but predominantly results from persistent liver inflammation or injury. If left untreated, HF can progress and develop into liver cirrhosis and even hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of HF remain unknown.

Diagnostic Estimation of Noninvasive Tests for Hepatic Fibrosis in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients Without a Gold Standard.

Background: Assessment of hepatic fibrosis stage in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is indispensable for prognosis evaluation and therapeutic regime. Noninvasive tests are fast, safe and cheap and need low technical requirements for diagnosing hepatic fibrosis in CHB patients.

Objectives: Using the latent class model with a random-factor to estimate relative accuracy of noninvasive tests for the diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis without a gold standard in a large population with CHB.

Comparison of the inhibition capability of oleanolic acid and betulinic acid towards drug-metabolizing enzymes.

Background: Human UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) are important membrane proteins located in endoplasmic reticulum, and play important roles in metabolism of a variety of endogenous and exogenous compounds.

Aims: To determine the influence of subtle difference in the structure of oleanolic acid and betulinic acid towards the inhibition towards the activity of UGT isoforms.

Methods: In vitro glucuronidation of 4-methylumbelliferone (4-MU) reaction was employed as the probe reaction to determine the inhibition of these two compounds towards UGTs' activity.

A novel prognostic score for acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure.

Patients with acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure (HBV-ACLF) show high morbidity and mortality. Independent prognostic predictors of short-term HBV-ACLF mortality include the Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) score, the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score, other MELD-based indices and the dynamic changes in these indices. The aims of this study were to evaluate the existing prognostic scores in a large cohort of HBV-ACLF patients and create a new predictive model.

Association between insulin-like growth factor-2 expression and prognosis after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and octreotide in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective: To investigate the association between the change of IGF-2 level in serum after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression, especially in relation to metastasis.

Methods: IGF-2 in serum was measured by quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay before, 3 days and 4 weeks after TACE in 60 patients with HCC. The occurrence of HCC metastasis was also evaluated, 3 months after TACE.

[Protective effects of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor on acute hepatic failure induced by D-galactosamine/lipopolysaccharide in mice].

Objective: To evaluate the protective effect of recombinant human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) on acute hepatic failure induced by galactosamine (D-GalN) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in mice, and to explore its mechanism.

Methods: The mice were intraperitoneally administered D-GalN (800 mg/kg) and LPS (10 microg/kg), and then were intraperitoneally injected either saline (the control group )or rhG-CSF at 300 microg/kg body weight (the therapy group) at 4 h, 2 h and 0 h before the D-GalN/LPS injection. The survival rate of the mice was estimated at 24 h after the D-GalN/LPS injection.