Quantitative analysis of aldolase A mRNA in liver discriminates between hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis.

Background: Chronic liver diseases can progress to cirrhosis and to hepatocellular carcinoma. Timely and unequivocal recognition of the neoplastic evolution of cirrhosis is critical. To this aim, we used a noncompetitive reverse transcription-PCR procedure to analyze aldolase A mRNA in liver tissue from patients with chronic liver diseases at different stages.

Severe liver impairment in a cystic fibrosis-affected child homozygous for the G542X mutation.

The clinical and laboratory findings of a cystic fibrosis (CF) patient homozygous for the G542X mutation are described. This is the first case, among the 7 G542X homozygous CF subjects described so far who shows severe liver involvement, associated pancreatic insufficiency, and moderate pulmonary expression of the disease, as demonstrated by laboratory and imaging data. This case adds to the conclusion that genotype/phenotype correlation in cystic fibrosis is more complex than formerly suspected.