ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) on the recurrence of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative treatment. MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CNKI, CBM, Wanfang Data, and VIP were searched for the clinical studies of DAA and the recurrence of HCV-related HCC published up to April 2020. Stata 14.0 software was used to perform the meta-analysis. The Cochran Q test was used to evaluate heterogeneity between studies; the fixed effects model was used for non-heterogeneous data, and the random effects model was used for heterogeneous data. The Egger regression method or the Begg rank correlation method was used to evaluate the presence or absence of publication bias. ResultsA total of 10 articles (11 studies) were included in our study, among which 8 articles (9 studies) compared the effect of DAA versus the absence of anti-HCV therapy on the recurrence of HCC after curative treatment. There were 991 patients in DAA group and 808 patients in untreated group. The results of the meta-analysis showed that DAA reduced the recurrence rate of HCC after curative treatment in patients with HCV infection (hazard ratio ［HR］=0.42, 95% confidence interval ［CI］: 0.28?0.36, P＜0.001). Three articles compared the effect of DAA versus interferon for the treatment of hepatitis C on the recurrence of HCC after curative treatment, with 267 patients in DAA group and 212 in interferon group, and the results of the meta-analysis showed that DAA and interferon had a similar effect on the recurrence rate of HCV-related HCC (HR=0.85, 95% CI: 0.64-1.15, P=0.298). ConclusionBoth interferon and DAA can significantly reduce the recurrence risk of HCV-related HCC after curative treatment, with no significant difference between them.
ABSTRACT
Obesity and binge drinking often coexist and work synergistically to promote steatohepatitis; however, the underlying mechanisms remain obscure. In this mini-review, we briefly summarize clinical evidence of the synergistical effect of obesity and heavy drinking on steatohepatitis and discuss the underlying mechanisms obtained from the study of several mouse models. High-fat diet (HFD) feeding and binge ethanol synergistically induced steatohepatitis and fibrosis in mice with significant intrahepatic neutrophil infiltration; such HFD-plus-ethanol treatment markedly up-regulated the hepatic expression of many chemokines with the highest fold (approximately 30-fold) induction of chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 1 (Cxcl1), which contributes to hepatic neutrophil infiltration and liver injury. Furthermore, HFD feeding activated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma that subsequently inhibited CXCL1 upregulation in hepatocytes, thereby forming a negative feedback loop to prevent neutrophil overaction; whereas binge ethanol blocked this loop and then exacerbated CXCL1 elevation, neutrophil infiltration, and liver injury. Interestingly, inflamed mouse hepatocytes attracted neutrophils less effectively than inflamed human hepatocytes due to the lower induction of CXCL1 and the lack of the interleukin (IL)-8 gene in the mouse genome, which may be one of the reasons for difficulty in development of mouse models of alcoholic steatohepatitis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Hepatic overexpression of Cxcl1 and/or IL-8 promoted steatosis-to-NASH progression in HFD-fed mice by inducing neutrophil infiltration, oxidative stress, hepatocyte death, fibrosis, and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase activation. Collectively, obesity and binge drinking synergistically promote steatohepatitis via the induction of CXCL1 and subsequent hepatic neutrophil infiltration.