Hepatitis Weekly articles from February 2003

Hepatitis Weekly archives from February 2003

Youth subject to developing hepatitis B-related kidney illness like adults.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Researchers in Turkey have produced more evidence of a link between hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and glomerulopathy in children. "In this study, we...

Fatty liver associates with fibrosis in untreated hepatitis C patients.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Chronic hepatitis C patients who do not receive treatment may be at risk for fibrosis progression if they have steatosis, or fatty liver, that worsens. ...

Small peptide dissociates hepatitis B core from surface antigen.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have discovered a peptide that dissociates hepatitis B virus core antigen from hepatitis B virus surface antigen. According to a study from Malaysia, "M13 phages that display random...

Study finds three commonalities on timeline of hepatitis C pathogenesis.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in the United states have constructed a timeline demonstrating the early route of pathogenesis in people who become infected with hepatitis C virus. "To define the early events that...

Antigens from swine or human virus both equally effective in assays.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists who work for the United States government have completed a study suggesting the antigenic regions on swine and human hepatitis E viruses are nearly identical. "The recombinant truncated...

Former WebMD executive producer joins NewsRx.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A former WebMD executive producer and medical editor has joined Atlanta-based NewsRx, along with three board-certified editors. Dominique Walton Brooks, MD, with WebMD until 2001, will serve as...

Therapy for hepatitis B virus infections continues to present challenges.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a study from Australia, "there are presently only two licensed therapies for treating liver disease caused by infection with the hepatitis B virus (HBV). These are interferon-alpha and...

Antiretroviral therapy heightens long-term hepatitis C virus diversity.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - HIV treatment can exacerbate long-term hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, researchers in California warn. Jennifer M. Babik and colleagues at Stanford...

Most hepatitis B-infected inhabitants of Malawai carry unique subtype.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers from Japan have discovered a unique hepatitis B virus subtype among the carrier population of Malawi. "Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes have distinct geographical distribution. HBV...

Investigation links viral hepatitis with drug use in England town.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have determined a major factor associated with newly detected hepatitis C virus cases in a community of England was intravenous drug use (IVDU). "A retrospective casenote study was...

Research may explain why ribavirin effective for chronic hepatitis C.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a study from Germany, "the treatment of choice for patients infected chronically with HCV is the combination of IFN-alpha and ribavirin. Monotherapy with ribavirin leads to a clinical and...

Liver appearance can improve after clearance of chronic hepatitis C.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite extensive pathology, liver histology can improve when patients with chronic hepatitis C experience viral clearance. "The long-term histological and virological outcomes of spontaneous...

Long-term complications of CMV hepatitis after transplantation few.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cytomegalovirus causes few long-term complications in patients who have undergone liver transplantations. According to recent research from Germany, "Cytomegalovirus (CMV) hepatitis is described as...

Gene profiles track phenotype changes in liver progenitor cells.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Some day, stem cells destined to become mature liver cells could be used for treating livers affected by diseases such as hepatitis. Scientists in Europe...

Interferon-gamma gene profiles may dictate recovery from hepatitis B virus.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Among the alphabet soup of cytokines that regulate immune response, only genes for interferon (IFN)-gamma stand out as a link between hepatitis B virus (HBV)...

Prolonged HAART may cause higher hepatitis C load in HIV coinfected.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Long-term use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) may be responsible for raising hepatitis C virus (HCV) loads in patients coinfected with human...

Society gains economic advantages from vaccinating prisoners.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Financial resources allocated towards vaccinating prisoners against hepatitis B virus infection will be cost-effective in the long run, researchers suggest. "The purpose of this paper is to...

Adhesion receptor LFA-1 has crucial role in fulminant hepatitis.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have identified a molecular marker that plays a critical role in the evolution of fulminant hepatitis in those with viral hepatitis infections. According to recent research from...

Tetanus toxoid enhances hepatitis B vaccine response.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have learned that tetanus toxoid enhances the response to hepatitis B virus vaccine in previous nonresponders. According to a study from Turkey, "in this prospective study, our aim was...

Combination therapy most useful when viral titers are moderate.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to recent research from Japan, "to increase the sustained response (SR) rate in chronic hepatitis C (CHC), we tried a combination therapy with interferon (IFN) alpha and beta. Fifty patients...

Cases decrease in Southern California.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The widespread vaccination of children is being credited for a dramatic drop in cases of hepatitis A in Southern California and much of the West. The vaccine for the most common liver disease is...

Taiwan study looks at long-term effects of hepatitis B vaccine.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in Taiwan have investigated the long-term effects of hepatitis B vaccine and booster shots among adolescents. "The long-term immunogenicity of universal hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine...

Adenoviral vector encoding for hepatitis C virus molecule prevents infection.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A recombinant vaccine comprised of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3 protein and an adenoviral vector has induced immune response in animal models. According to a study from Spain, "cellular immune...

CDC issues recommendations for correctional settings.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published recommendations designed to prevent and control viral hepatitis infections in correctional settings. Implementation of these...

Intestinal endotoxemia an underlying mechanism in liver failure.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a study from the Peoples Republic of China, "Liver injury induced by various pathogenic factors (such as hepatitis virus, ethanol, drugs and hepatotoxicants, etc.) through their respective...

Socioeconomic status does not affect the outcome of liver transplantation.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to recent research from the United States, "The outcome of liver transplantation is dependent on many factors. It was suggested that racial disparities in outcome may be related to...

Best biopsy site for drug-induced, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis decided.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Tamoxifen use in breast cancer patients may cause non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Researchers have recommended the best site for doing biopsies in order to detect the liver disorder. "We have...

Flt3 ligand safe as adjuvant, but only moderately effective.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Ftl3 ligand is well-tolerated as a vaccine adjuvant, but has little effect on immunization efficacy, researchers at the University of California, Davis report. "A phase I/II clinical trial was...

Interferon-ribavirin combination okay for those with psychiatric diagnoses.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Research performed in Germany suggests interferon (IFN)-alpha and ribavirin combination therapy is okay for patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) who...

Synthesized nucleotide may increase survival of hepatocellular carcinoma.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Man-made nucleotides could some day extend survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, researchers in the United States have proposed. According...

Oligonucleotide stimulates T-cell-mediated autoaggression against hepatocytes.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in Germany have identified a means of stimulating T-cell-mediated aggression against liver cells that might provide clues about the etiology of autoimmune hepatitis. "Autoimmune...

Researchers report on tumor markers for detecting hepatocellular carcinoma.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in Japan have identified useful biomarkers for detecting hepatocellular carcinoma. According to their study, "levels of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), its glycoforms AFP-L3 and AFP-P4, and...

More sensitive testing indicates low RNA levels may persist after therapy.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Transcription-mediated amplification-based assays suggest low levels of hepatitis C virus RNA may be present in patients considered sustained responders, researchers in Germany say. "After...

Short tandem repeat analysis facilitates characterizing of liver cells.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Short tandem repeat analysis can establish the lineage of liver cells commonly used in viral hepatitis research, scientists in Belgium report. According to recent research, "in the past years, in...

Amino acid residues compatible with hepatitis B virus virion formation.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a study from Germany, "the crystal structure of recombinant hepatitis B virus (HBV) capsids formed by 240 core proteins has recently been published. We wanted to map sites on the surface...

Asialoglycoprotein receptor plays role in hepatitis C virus infectivity.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in the United states say hepatitis C virus localizes with and is internalized by asialoglycoprotein receptors on liver cells. "We used a baculovirus-based system to prepare structural...

Hepatitis B virus upregulates matrix metalloproteinase-9 in liver cells.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of human liver disease, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The prognosis for HCC is largely dependent on the clinicopathological characteristics...

Single dose of adenoviral-mediated HGF cDNA increases murine survival.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Just one dose of hepatocyte growth factor has increased survival among murine models of acute liver failure. According to a study from South Korea, "heptatocyte growth factor (HGF) having a...

Drug generates allergic cholestatic hepatitis in hospitalized patient.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "We report about a 66-year-old-male patient who was hospitalized with generalized exanthema and increase of liver enzymes after intake of metamizole because of flue-like symptoms," stated researchers...

Research compares DNA and RNA extraction methods for mummified tissues.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a study from the United States, "nucleic acids extracted from mummified tissues are valuable materials for the study of ancient human beings. Significant difficulty in extracting nucleic...

Autoantibody to the transcriptional factor SOX13 high in liver disease.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in Australia report autoantibodies to SOX13 are found at higher levels in patients with certain liver diseases. "The molecule SOX13 was initially identified as an autoantigen (ICA12)...

Authors consider non-alcoholic fatty liver disease a matter of affluence.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a disease of emerging identity and importance. It is frequently associated with obesity, especially visceral fat, and is intimately related to fatty liver and...

Ursodeoxycholic useful for graft-versus-host disease resembling hepatitis.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to recent research from Japan, "hepatic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a frequent complication after bone-marrow transplantation (BMT). The disease is often refractory to...

Rituximab clears complications arising from Epstein-Barr virus hepatitis.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to recent research from Belgium, "Post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLDs) are life-threatening complications. We report the case of a 7-year-old girl in whom a...

T cells specific to hepatitis B viral X antigen could eradicate tumors.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Scientists believe certain antigens from hepatitis B virus (HBV) could be used in adoptive immunotherapy for eradicating malignancies in the liver. "We...

Combined therapies improve outcomes in phase II trial of cancer patients.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Medical researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center say a combination of interferon (IFN)-alfa-2b and fluorouracil (FU) improves...

Hepatitis C virus core protein linked to carotid atherosclerosis.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Persistent hepatitis C virus infections appear to be correlated with a heightened risk for atherosclerosis, scientists in Japan suggest. According to recent research, "a link between certain...

Search ensues for interferon-induced genes that inhibit hepatitis B virus.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A small subset of genes may control whether or not interferon alpha or beta is effective against hepatitis B virus infection, according to researchers in the United States. "We have previously...

Hepatitis B virus genotypes don't have undue influence on cancer progression.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The long-term progression to fibrosis and liver cancer does not greatly differ between patients with hepatitis B virus B or C genotypes, medical researchers in Japan indicate. According to recent...

Study indexes markers for fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a study from France, "as an alternative to liver biopsy, an index of five biochemical markers (alpha(2)-macroglobulin, apolipoprotein A1, haptoglobin, total bilirubin,...

Iron overload during chelation therapy may result in liver injury.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to recent research from Denmark, "the role of iron overload as cause of liver dysfunction has never been studied in detail in patients without concomitant hepatotropic infections who receive...

RNA interference humbles liver injury in animal model.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful technique for silencing the expression of genes and has been described as the most important scientific advance in recent years. But its potential to treat or...

Human monoclonal antibody recognizes native hepatitis C virus heterodimers.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a study from the United States, "the majority of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected individuals progress from acute to chronic disease, despite the presence of a strong humoral immune...

Dominant negative MORT1/FADD rescues mice from cytokine related liver failure.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to researchers in Germany, "derangement of the apoptotic program is considered an important cause of liver disease. It became clear that receptor-mediated apoptosis is of specific interest...

Vaccination for hepatitis A cost-effective in children, adolescents, and adults.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "Hepatitis A is a major public health problem in the United States and other developed countries, largely because decreased natural immunity allows for increased susceptibility. To evaluate the...

Immunotherapy that boosts T cell response needed for chronic hepatitis B.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a study from France, "Chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma associated with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are among the most serious human health problems in...

Gamma interferon plays key role in control of hepatitis B infection.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "The aim of this study was to elucidate the molecular basis for viral clearance and liver disease in the pathogenesis of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Using transgenic mice that replicate HBV at...

Quantitative assays examine antiviral efficacy against hepatitis DNA.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "In this study, we used a quantitative assay to measure the concentration-dependent effects of antivirals on extracellular hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA as well as on different cytoplasmic and nuclear...

Quasispecies presentation varies in dendritic and liver cells.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is predominantly a hepatotropic virus. Nonetheless, there is mounting evidence that hematopoietic cells may support HCV replication," researchers in France report. "The...

Ribonucleoside analogue blocks RNA virus replication in culture.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a study from the United States, "a base-modified nucleoside analogue, beta-D-N-4-hydroxycytidine (NHC), was found to have antipestivirus and antihepacivirus activities. This compound...

Intense interferon regimen doesn't yield better response in African Americans.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study performed at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill repudiates the belief that intensive interferon regimens can increase sustained response rates in African Americans with chronic...

Repeated measurements for virus are indicative of viral response.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to recent research from Austria, "early interferon (IFN) therapy prevents viral persistence in acute hepatitis C, but in view of the resulting costs and morbidity patients who really need...

Antisense strategy may reduce growth and invasion of liver cancer.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Antisense to urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) may be an effective way to reduce the growth and invasiveness of hepatocellular carcinoma. Often...

Customized gene arrays delineate donor cell response to cytokine.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a study from Europe, "A sensitive, specific, reproducible, robust, and cost-effective customized cDNA array system based on established nylon membrane technology has been developed for...

Heat-shock protein emits genetic signals in early hepatocellular carcinoma.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Heat-shock protein 70 is a potential biomarker for the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma, a primary form of liver cancer, according to researchers in Japan. "Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)...

Researchers connect life's blueprints with its energy source.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Purdue University research team that recently created a tiny motor out of synthetic biological molecules has found further evidence that RNA molecules can perform physical work, a discovery that...

Subgenomic systems could lead to better understanding of hepatitis C virus.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Newly developed hepatitis C virus subgenomic replicons could ultimately lead to a better understanding of how therapies can be used to prevent hepatitis infection, according to researchers at Southwest...

A single enzyme hosts two reactions in antiviral.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "Ribavirin is an approved broad-spectrum antiviral drug. A liver-targeting prodrug of ribavirin, viramidine, is in clinical trial in an attempt to provide a better therapeutic index. The conversion...

Artificial liver serves as bridge to transplantation.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An experimental artificial liver system that uses human cells to filter blood plasma is undergoing trials in the hope that it will serve as a successful bridge for patients awaiting a transplant...

Combination of methods offers reasons for why hepadnaviruses are persistent.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "The detection of small amounts of viral pathogens in infected cells by classical PCR is hampered by a partial loss of virus nucleic acid due to extraction and by difficulties in discrimination between...