Varied immune responses of HBV-specific B cells in patients undergoing pegylated interferon-alpha treatment for chronic hepatitis B.

Background & Aims: The changes in HBV-specific B cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) undergoing pegylated interferon-α (PEG-IFNα) treatment and achieving functional cure remain unclear. We aimed to evaluate the alterations in HBV-specific B cells during treatment and therefore explored the mechanism of functional recovery of HBsAg-specific B cells.

Methods: We included 39 nucleos(t)ide analogue-treated patients with CHB who received sequential combination therapy with PEG-IFNα and eight treatment-naïve patients.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease increases the risk of complications after radical resection in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background And Aims: The prevalence of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients is increasing, yet its association with postoperative complications of HCC remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of MAFLD on complications after radical resection in HCC patients.

Methods: Patients with HCC who underwent radical resection were included.

Diagnostic value of liver stiffness measurement combined with risk scores for esophagogastric variceal bleeding in patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis.

Purpose: To assess the predictive value of liver stiffness measurement (LSM) and three bleeding risk scoring systems for esophagogastric varices bleeding (EGVB) in patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis during hospitalization.

Methods: In this study, 210 patients who had hepatitis B cirrhosis were selected as the subjects. They were categorized into two groups based on whether EGVB occurred during hospitalization: a bleeding group (70 cases) and a non-bleeding group (140 cases).

A novel small-animal locomotor activity recording device for biological clock research.

The rodent running-wheel recording apparatus is a reliable approach for studying circadian rhythm. This study demonstrated how to construct a simple and intelligent running-wheel recording system. The running wheel was attached to the cage's base, whereas the Hall sensor was attached to the cage's cover.

Tenofovir alafenamide significantly increased serum lipid levels compared with entecavir therapy in chronic hepatitis B virus patients.

Background: Tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) has a serum lipid-raising effect in patients with HIV; however, its effect on serum lipids and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) risk in patients with chronic hepatitis B CHB) is unclear.

Aim: To compare the effects of TAF and entecavir (ETV) on serum lipid levels in patients with CHB.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, the data including the clinical features, serum lipids, and metabolic factors of patients with CHB at baseline and approximately 1 year after TAF or ETV treatment were collected and analyzed.

Liver Stiffness Measurement can Predict Liver Inflammation in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients with Normal Alanine Transaminase.

Background And Aims: To determine whether liver stiffness measurement (LSM) indicates liver inflammation in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with different upper limits of normal (ULNs) for alanine aminotransferase (ALT).

Methods: We grouped 439 CHB patients using different ULNs for ALT: cohort I, ≤40 U/L (439 subjects); cohort II, ≤35/25 U/L (males/females; 330 subjects); and cohort III, ≤30/19 U/L (males/females; 231 subjects). Furthermore, 84 and 96 CHB patients with normal ALT (≤40 U/L) formed the external and prospective validation groups, respectively.

Gasdermin D Inhibitor Necrosulfonamide Alleviates Lipopolysaccharide/D-galactosamine-induced Acute Liver Failure in Mice.

Background And Aims: Acute liver failure (ALF) is associated with high mortality. Gasdermin D (GSDMD) is the executioner of pyroptosis and is involved in the pathophysiology of immune dysregulation This study investigated the role of the GSDMD inhibitor necrosulfonamide (NSA) in ALF.

Methods: An ALF model was established by lipopolysaccharide/D-galactosamine challenge in C57BL/6J mice.

Gut microbiota of hepatitis B virus-infected patients in the immune-tolerant and immune-active phases and their implications in metabolite changes.

Background: The microbes and metabolomics of microbiota dysbiosis in the gut in the different phases of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are not fully understood.

Aim: To investigate the specific gut microbiota and metabolites of the immune-tolerant (IT) and immune-active (IA) phases of chronic hepatitis B (CHB).

Methods: Clinical fecal samples from healthy individuals and patients in the IT and IA phases of HBV infection were collected.

The impact of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after radical resection.

Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is recently proposed an entity by a group of international experts. However, the impact of MAFLD on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is not clear. The aim of this study was to explore the influence of MAFLD for the prognosis of HCC after radical resection.

Validation of conventional non-invasive fibrosis scoring systems in patients with metabolic associated fatty liver disease.

Background: Non-invasive fibrosis scores are not yet validated in the newly defined metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD).

Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of four non-invasive scores including aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI), fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4), body mass index, aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase ratio, diabetes score (BARD), and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease fibrosis score (NFS) in patients with MAFLD.

Methods: Consecutive patients with histologically confirmed MAFLD were included.

A novel HBsAg-based model for predicting significant liver fibrosis among Chinese patients with immune-tolerant phase chronic hepatitis B: a multicenter retrospective study.

Background: Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in the immune-tolerant (IT) phase is significantly associated with high risk for hepatocellular carcinoma, suggesting requirement for antiviral therapy, particularly for those with histological liver injury. This study aimed to establish a non-invasive panel to assess significant liver fibrosis in IT chronic hepatitis B.

Patients And Methods: One hundred and thirteen IT-phase CHB patients were retrospectively recruited and divided into two histopathological groups according to their histological profiles: necroinflammatory score <4 (N <4)/fibrosis score ⩽1 (F0-1), and necroinflammatory score ⩾4 (N ⩾4)/fibrosis score ⩾2 (F2-4).

[Retracted] Anticancer and apoptotic activities of oleanolic acid are mediated through cell cycle arrest and disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential in HepG2 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Following the publication of the above paper, a concerned reader drew to the Editor's attention that several figures (principally, Figs. 3, 6 and 8) contained data that bore striking similarities to data published in other papers, some of which had been published around the same time and written by different authors based at different research institutions. After having conducted an independent investigation in the Editorial Office, the Editor of has determined that this article should be retracted from the Journal on account of a lack of confidence concerning the originality and the authenticity of the data.

Effect of liver inflammation on accuracy of FibroScan device in assessing liver fibrosis stage in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

Background: Transient elastography (FibroScan) is a new and non-invasive test, which has been widely recommended by the guidelines of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) management for assessing hepatic fibrosis staging. However, some confounders may affect the diagnostic accuracy of the FibroScan device in fibrosis staging.

Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic value of the FibroScan device and the effect of hepatic inflammation on the accuracy of FibroScan in assessing the stage of liver fibrosis in patients with HBV infection.

Clinic-pathological features of metabolic associated fatty liver disease with hepatitis B virus infection.

Background: Metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a novel concept proposed in 2020.

Aim: To compare the characteristics of MAFLD and MAFLD with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

Methods: Patients with histopathologically proven MAFLD from a single medical center were included.

Serum ceruloplasmin can predict liver fibrosis in hepatitis B virus-infected patients.

Background: The presence of significant liver fibrosis in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected individuals with persistently normal serum alanine aminotransferase (PNALT) levels is a strong indicator for initiating antiviral therapy. Serum ceruloplasmin (CP) is negatively correlated with liver fibrosis in HBV-infected individuals.

Aim: To examine the potential value of serum CP and develop a noninvasive index including CP to assess significant fibrosis among HBV-infected individuals with PNALT.

Association between NAFLD and risk of prevalent chronic kidney disease: why there is a difference between east and west?

Backgrounds: There is a discrepancy between west and east on the relationship between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study aimed to find out the possible reason for this and to clarify the association between NAFLD and CKD by analyzing two population-based datasets from the US and China.

Methods: Two health examination datasets from China and the US were used.

Novel predictive models using serum ceruloplasmin levels for hepatic steatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B infection.

Aims: To evaluate the significance of serum ceruloplasmin (CP) to diagnosis hepatic steatosis (HS) in Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients.

Methods: A total of 360 CHB patients with HS (n = 136) or without HS (n = 224) were included. Relationships between CP and HS degrees were analyzed by Spearman rank correlation.

Efficacy and safety of autologous stem cell transplantation for decompensated liver cirrhosis: A retrospective cohort study.

Aim: To evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT) for decompensated liver cirrhosis.

Methods: Consecutive patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis were included and assigned into the SCT group and non-transplantation (non-SCT) group according to whether they received SCT treatment. Patients were followed up for ten years.

Polycystic kidney and hepatic disease 1 gene mutations in von Meyenburg complexes: Case report.

Von Meyenburg complexes (VMCs) are a rare type of ductal plate malformation. We herein report two Chinese families with VMCs, and the suspicious gene mutation of this disease. Proband A was a 62-year-old woman with abnormal echographic presentation of the liver.

Downregulation of lncRNA OGFRP1 inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma progression by AKT/mTOR and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways.

Introduction: Increasing evidence demonstrates that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by regulating gene expression. However, the identification of functional lncRNAs in HCC remains insufficient. Our study aimed to investigate the function of lncRNA OGFRP1, which has not been functionally researched before, in Hep3B and HepG2 cells.

Modified model for end-stage liver disease improves short-term prognosis of hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure.

Aim: To investigate whether the short-term prognosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) could be improved by using a modified model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) including serum lactate.

Methods: This clinical study was conducted at the First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medicine University, China. From 2009 to 2015, 236 patients diagnosed with HBV-related ACLF at our center were recruited for this 3-month follow-up study.

Ceruloplasmin, a reliable marker of fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B virus patients with normal or minimally raised alanine aminotransferase.

Aim: To develop a non-invasive model to evaluate significant fibrosis and cirrhosis by investigating the association between serum ceruloplasmin (CP) levels and liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with normal or minimally raised alanine aminotransferase (ALT).

Methods: Serum samples and liver biopsy were obtained from 193 CHB patients with minimally raised or normal ALT who were randomly divided into a training group ( = 97) and a validation group ( = 96). Liver histology was evaluated by the METAVIR scoring system.

Noninvasive models for assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

There are approximately 240 million patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection worldwide. Up to 40% of HBV-infected patients can progress to liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma or chronic end-stage liver disease during their lifetime. This, in turn, is responsible for around 650000 deaths annually worldwide.

A Retrospective Study on the Significance of Liver Biopsy and Hepatitis B Surface Antigen in Chronic Hepatitis B Infection.

To investigate changes in the HBV replication level along with the natural course of chronic HBV infection and to examine the accuracy of the immune tolerant phase defined by the serological profile.A total of 390 chronic HBV-infected patients were retrospectively recruited for this study. They were classified into immune-tolerance (IT), immune-clearance (IC), low-replicative (LR), and HBeAg-negative hepatitis (ENH) phases according to serological profiles (single-standard, SS) or dual-standard (DS) with the inclusion of liver histology.