Burden of grade 3 or 4 liver injury associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Background & Aims: There is concern about the burden of liver injury in patients with cancer exposed to immune checkpoints inhibitors (ICIs).

Methods: In a retrospective cohort study, we evaluated the likelihood of grade 3/4 liver injury, of grade 3/4 cholestatic liver injury, and of liver failure, as per the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 5, following treatment with ICIs. We compared these occurrences with a group of cancer patients who were propensity-matched and treated with conventional chemotherapy.

Plasma Endocan as a Biomarker of Thrombotic Events in COVID-19 Patients.

(1) Background: Endocan is a marker of endothelial dysfunction that may be associated with thrombotic events. The aim of the study was to investigate the performance of endocan as a marker of thrombotic events in COVID-19 patients. (2) Methods: We measured endocan in plasma from 79 documented COVID-19 patients classified according to disease severity (from mild to critical).

Burden of liver disease progression in hospitalized patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background & Aims: There are uncertainties regarding the burden of liver disease in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Thus, we aimed to quantify the burden of liver disease, identify risk factors, and estimate attributable risks in patients with T2D.

Methods: We measured adjusted hazard ratios of liver disease progression to hepatocellular carcinoma and/or decompensated cirrhosis in a 2010-2020 retrospective, bicentric, longitudinal, cohort of 52,066 hospitalized patients with T2D.

Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Biomarkers for the Prediction of Severity and ICU Admission in Unselected Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the prognostic performances of oxidative stress (OS), inflammatory and cell activation biomarkers measured at admission in COVID-19 patients.

Design: retrospective monocentric study.

Setting: patients with suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) admitted to the hospital.

Performance of 30 commercial SARS-CoV-2 serology assays in testing symptomatic COVID-19 patients.

We report evaluation of 30 assays' (17 rapid tests (RDTs) and 13 automated/manual ELISA/CLIA assay (IAs)) clinical performances with 2594 sera collected from symptomatic patients with positive SARS-CoV-2 rRT-PCR on a respiratory sample, and 1996 pre-epidemic serum samples expected to be negative. Only 4 RDT and 3 IAs fitted both specificity (> 98%) and sensitivity (> 90%) criteria according to French recommendations. Serology may offer valuable information during COVID-19 pandemic, but inconsistent performances observed among the 30 commercial assays evaluated, which underlines the importance of independent evaluation before clinical implementation.

Histopathologic Features of Chilblainlike Lesions Developing in the Setting of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic.

Context.—: During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, several studies have described a distinctive cutaneous manifestation with a clinical picture resembling chilblains or chilblain lupus in young patients.

Objective.

[Pemphigus and herpes: Multicentre survey and literature review].

Background: Although herpes superinfection is a well-known complication of pemphigus, it has not been widely investigated.

Aim: To investigate the frequency and features of herpes infection in patients with ongoing pemphigus.

Patients And Methods: We carried out a multicenter retrospective study between 2008 and 2016 in patients with newly diagnosed pemphigus presenting active herpes infection.

Development and clinical validation of the Genedrive point-of-care test for qualitative detection of hepatitis C virus.

Objective: Recently approved direct acting antivirals provide transformative therapies for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The major clinical challenge remains to identify the undiagnosed patients worldwide, many of whom live in low-income and middle-income countries, where access to nucleic acid testing remains limited. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a point-of-care (PoC) assay for the qualitative detection of HCV RNA.

Direct-acting antivirals and hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation in co-infected HBV/HCV kidney-transplant recipients.

Direct-acting agents (DAAs) are highly efficient at treating hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections after kidney transplantation. Although drug agencies have recently warned of the risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation after patients have received DAAs, reports have discrepant results in HBsAg-positive and HBsAg-negative patients. We report on 3 cases of HBV reactivation that were detected after achieving a DAA-associated sustained virological response in 3 kidney-transplant recipients initially HBsAg-negative.

[Dermatoses and herpes superinfection: A retrospective study of 34 cases].

Background: Although varicelliform Kaposi eruption is a well-known complication of dermatoses, it has not been widely investigated.

Aim: To investigate features of dermatoses and herpes superinfection in patients hospitalized in a dermatology department.

Patients And Methods: We performed a single-centre, retrospective study between 2008 and 2014 that included cases of Kaposi varicelliform eruptions defined by positive PCR of an unconventional site of herpetic recurrence in a setting of active dermatitis.

Production of TNF-alpha ex vivo is predictive of an immune response to flu vaccination in a frail elderly population.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the response to influenza vaccination and the ability to produce proinflamatory cytokines in elderly subjects.

Methods: Whole blood samples from 25 elderly subjects collected before influenza vaccination were stimulated with the influenza vaccine in order to evaluate the secretion of five specific cytokines: TNFα, IFNα, IFNγ, IL2 and IL10. The results were correlated with the increased HAI antibody titres two weeks after vaccination.

Diagnostic accuracy of des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin for hepatocellular carcinoma in a French cohort using the Lumipulse G600 analyzer.

The increasing incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Western countries requests reliable tumour markers for preclinical diagnosis. We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin (DCP), in comparison with alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in a French cohort using a new analyser. One hundred and sixty-two patients with virus-related cirrhosis (46 HCC patients and 116 controls) were recruited in this retrospective proof-of-concept study.