Dynamic change and significance of Mindin protein in chronic hepatitis B treated with PEG-IFNα-2b / 临床肝胆病杂志

ObjectiveTo investigate the change and potential role of Mindin protein in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B （CHB） with PEG-IFNα-2b. MethodsA total of 29 CHB patients who received the treatment with PEG-IFNα-2b in The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University from January 2018 to December 2019 were enrolled， and according to their clinical outcome， they were divided into cured group with 17 patients and uncured group with 12 patients. Peripheral blood samples were collected from both groups at baseline， 12 weeks， and 24 weeks to measure blood routine indices， liver function parameters， hepatitis B markers， and Mindin protein. HBsAg， alanine aminotransferase （ALT）， aspartate aminotransferase （AST）， and Mindin protein at different time points were compared between the two groups. The independent-samples t test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups， and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups； a Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate correlation； a multiple linear regression analysis was used to investigate the influence of HBsAg and ALT on the content of Mindin protein. ResultsThe analysis of baseline data showed that there were significant differences in the levels of HBsAg， HBeAb， albumin， and albumin/globulin ratio between the cured group and the uncured group （all P<0.05）. The cured group tended to have a gradual increase in the level of Mindin， and the level of Mindin at 24 weeks was significantly higher than that at baseline （P<0.05）. The cured group had a significantly higher level of Mindin protein than the uncured group at 24 weeks （P=0.019）. The cured group had a significantly lower level of HBsAg than the uncured group （P<0.05）， with a significant change from baseline to each time point within the cured group （P<0.05）. In addition， the levels of ALT and AST in the cured group tended to first increase and then decrease， and the expression levels at 12 weeks were significantly higher than those at baseline （P<0.05）. At 12 weeks， there was a strong linear correlation between Mindin protein levels and ALT in the untreated group （r=0.760 8， P<0.05）， and further multiple linear regression analysis also demonstrated a linear relationship between the two （b=1.571， P=0.019）. ConclusionThere is a significant difference in the level of Mindin protein between the cured group and the non-cured group after 24 weeks of PEG-IFNα-2b antiviral treatment， and therefore， detecting the dynamic changes of Mindin protein can better predict the treatment outcome of CHB， which provides a reference for clinical practice.

Expression level and clinical significance of SOCS1 in the serum of patients with chronic HBV-related liver disease / 西安交通大学学报(医学版)

【Objective】 To study the expression levels of suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) and its clinical significance in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver diseases. 【Methods】 For this study we enrolled 25 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), hepatitis B cirrhosis, or HBV-associated chronic acute liver failure (HBV-ACLF), and 25 healthy controls. The expression levels of SOCS1 mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were determined using the RT-PCR method. The levels of SOCS1 and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the plasma of patients with chronic liver diseases and healthy controls were measured using the ELISA method. The relative expression levels of SOCS1, SOCS1 mRNA, and other laboratory test indicators such as HBV-DNA, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), prothrombin activity (PTA) and total bilirubin (TBil) were compared among the groups. Additionally, the correlation between the expression levels of SOCS1 mRNA and the aforementioned laboratory indicators was assessed. 【Results】 The expression levels of SOCS1 mRNA and serum SOCS1 were highest in the HBV-ACLF group, followed by the cirrhosis group, and lowest in the healthy control group, with statistically significant differences (F=109.65, P<0.001). The relative expression of SOCS1 mRNA was positively correlated with TBil (r=0.89, P<0.001), ALT (r=0.89, P<0.001), AST (r=0.84, P<0.001) and IL-6 (r=0.93, P<0.001), but negatively correlated with PTA (r=-0.89, P<0.001) and was not significantly correlated with HBV-DNA (P=0.28). 【Conclusion】 The expression levels of SOCS1 in patients with HBV-related chronic liver diseases can reflect the severity of the disease and show a significant correlation with indicators used to assess the severity of liver diseases.

Influencing factors for the short-term prognosis of patients with HBV-related acute-on-chronic liver failure / 临床肝胆病杂志

ObjectiveTo investigate the influencing factors for the short-term prognosis of patients with HBV-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF). MethodsClinical data were collected from 240 HBV-ACLF patients without liver transplantation who were admitted To The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University from January 2009 to December 2019, and the patients were divided into groups according to survival on days 28 and 90 after admission (28-day survival group with 164 patients and 28-day death group with 76 patients; 90-day survival group with 140 patients and 90-day death group with 100 patients). The data collected included predisposing factors, liver function parameters, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, MELD combined with serum sodium concentration (MELD-Na) score, and complications. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups, and the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to calculate the area under the ROC curve (AUC), and a multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the risk factors for the short-term prognosis of HBV-ACLF. ResultsThe main predisposing factors of HBV-ACLF included spontaneous activation of HBV (55.6%) and HBV activation caused by the withdrawal of or resistance to nucleoside analogues (25.2%). There were significant differences in age, prothrombin time activity (PTA), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), serum sodium, MELD score, MELD-Na score, and total bilirubin (TBil) at baseline between the 28-day survival group and the 28-day death group (Z=-2.400,-6.015, -5.070, -5.103, -5.044, -7.430, and -6.637, all P＜0.05), and there were also significant differences in age, PTA, NLR, serum sodium, MELD score, MELD-Na, TBil, and cholesterol at baseline between the 90-day survival group and the 90-day death group (Z=-2.205, -7.728, -3.335, -4.015, -6.053, -7.908, -6.655, and -3.607, all P＜0.05). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that TBil ＞260.20 mmol/L (odds ratio ［OR］=4.572, 95% confidence interval ［CI］: 1.321-15823, P＜0.05), PTA ＜24.8% (OR=8.934, 95%CI: 3.026-26.374, P＜0.05), NLR＞5.63 (OR=2.632, 95%CI: 1.126-6.152, P＜0.05), serum sodium ＜130.8 mmol/L (OR=27.467, 95%CI: 6.113-123.423, P＜0.05), MELD score ＞17.84 (OR=4.303, 95%CI: 1.048-17.663, P＜0.05), and MELD-Na score ＞25.1 (OR=3.453, 95%CI: 1.614-7.387, P＜0.05) were independent risk factors for 28-day survival; TBil＞260.20 mmol/L (OR=5.148, 95%CI: 1.918-13.822, P＜0.05), PTA ＜25.5% (OR=15.718, 95%CI: 5.161-47.866, P＜0.05), serum sodium ＜135.3 mmol/L (OR=10.080, 95%CI: 3.244-31.323, P＜005), MELD score ＞17.84 (OR=11.157, 95%CI: 2.580-48.254, P＜0.05), MELD-Na score ＞25.1 (OR=4.391, 95%CI: 2057-9.372, P＜0.05) were independent risk factors for 90-day survival. Among the 240 patients, 160 (66.7%) experienced infection within 90 days, among whom 140 had bacterial infection, 12 had viral infection, and 8 had fungal infection. The 160 patients with infection had a significantly higher 90-day mortality rate than the patients without infection (46.3% vs 32.5%, χ2=6.720, P=0.010). Of all 240 patients, 176 had ascites, 44 had pleural effusion, 36 had acute renal injury, 60 had hepatic encephalopathy, and 12 had gastrointestinal bleeding within 28 days, and there were significant differences in the proportion of patients with acute renal injury, grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ hepatic encephalopathy, or gastrointestinal bleeding between the 28-day survival group and the 28-day death group (χ2=64.088，29811，7.797，all P＜0.05). ConclusionTBil, PTA, serum sodium, MELD score, and MELD-Na score at baseline are independent risk factors for the 28- and 90-day prognosis of HBV-ACLF. Liver inflammation and necrosis caused by HBV activation may be the initiating factor for ACLF, and infection, acute renal injury, hepatic encephalopathy, and gastrointestinal bleeding are the main complications affecting the prognosis of patients.