ABSTRACT
Liver transplantation is one of the main treatments of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The recurrence of HCC after liver transplantation severely affects the long-term survival rate of the recipients. Targeted therapy and immunotherapy play a critical role in HCC downstaging, preventing disease progression, reducing recurrence rate, prolonging the survival and improving the quality of life. However, no consensus has been reached on the application of targeted therapy and immunotherapy in recipients undergoing liver transplantation for HCC, including indications, timing and dosage. In this article, clinical research progresses on the indications and timing of targeted therapy and immunotherapy before and after liver transplantation for HCC were reviewed, aiming to provide reference for prolonging the survival of recipients after liver transplantation for HCC.
ABSTRACT
Background: The prevalence of hypertension (HTN) associated with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) has been studied with indeterminate results. The aim of the study was to prospectively compare the prevalence of HTN before testing in 3 groups of individuals with subsequently normal, moderately deficient, and severely deficient genotypes of AATD with adjustment for differences in demographics and clinical variables. Methods: We performed a cross sectional study using data from the Alpha-1 Coded Testing (ACT) study. The univariate demographic and clinical factors associated with HTN were further analyzed by logistic regression analysis. Results: The prevalence of HTN was 27.2%, 20.6%, and 27.9% for individuals with normal, moderate and severe AATD, respectively (p<0.02). The prevalence of HTN increased with age and an interaction between age, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency genotype and HTN was identified. The relative risk of HTN among young moderately deficient individuals was 0.53 (95% CI 0.37-0.76) the risk of young PiMM and PiMS (normal genotype) individuals. There was no significant difference in the risk in older moderately deficient individuals 1.02 (95% CI 0.76-1.37) and individuals with severe AATD 1.10 (95% CI 0.71-1.68) when compared to normal genotypes. Conclusion: Moderate deficiency genotypes (PiMZ, PiSS, PiMNull) have less HTN than normal or severe deficiency genotypes, particularly in young individuals. We speculate that protease inhibitor deficiency over a lifetime allows unopposed proteolysis of vascular connective tissue.Measured comorbidities do not explain these findings. Validation of this data should occur in other AATD cohorts.