Clinical effects of qianggan capsule on the liver tissue pathology and PDGF-BB, TGF-beta1, TIMP-1, and MMP-1 factors in patients with chronic hepatitis B / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the therapeutic efficacy of Qianggan Capsule (QC) in treating patients Seventy pa-with chronic hepatitis B fibrosis from the pathological aspect and serum fibrosis markers.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>patients with chronic hepatitis B were randomly assigned to two groups, the treated group (45 cases) and the control group (25 cases). QC was given to patients in the treated group, while glucurone and compound vitamin B were given to those in the control group. The therapeutic course for both groups was 6 months. The therapeutic effect was assessed by determination of fibrosis markers including serum levels of platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB), transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta1), matrix metalloproteinases-1 (MMP-1), tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) and serum levels of alanine transaminase (ALT), total bilirubin (TBIL), albumin (ALB), and prothrombin time (PT) were completed 1 month before treatment and at the end of the trial respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) Serum levels of ALT, TBIL, PT decreased obviously and the serum ALB level obviously increased in both groups (all P<0.05), showing no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05). (2) Hepatic fibrosis markers: Serum levels of PDGF-BB, TGF-1P3, and TIMP-1 significantly decreased, and serum MMP-1 level markedly increased in the treated group more than before treatment (all P<0.05). No significant difference was shown between before and after treatment in each index of the control group (P>0.05). Serum levels of PDGF-BB, TGF-beta1, and TIMP-1 were obviously lower and the serum MMP-1 level was obviously higher in the treated group than in the control group after treatment (all P<0.05). (3) Hepatic histopathological results: The hepatic inflammatory necrosis activity and the hepatic fibrosis degree in the treated group were significantly improved (P<0.05), with the total effective rate of the hepatic necrosis activity improvement being 40.00% and that of the hepatic fibrosis degree being 57.78%. But there was no obvious improvement in the hepatic inflammatory necrosis activity or the hepatic fibrosis degree in the control group (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>QC could effectively improve serological indices and pathological indices of chronic hepatitis B fibrosis patients, showing better therapeutic effect in reversing hepatic fibrosis and alleviating hepatic inflammatory necrosis.</p>

Relationship between the genotypes of hepatitis B virus and the severity of liver diseases / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relationship between different genotypes of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the severity of liver diseases.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The S nucleotide sequences of HBV strains isolated from plasma samples of 284 patients were detected and compared. Among them, 87 patients were HBV asymptomatic carriers (ASC), 157 chronic hepatitis B (CHB), 22 liver cirrhosis (LC), and 18 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Genotypes B and C were predominant, with a 26.1% proportion and a 63.2% proportion respectively. The percentage of genotypes B and C in patients with ASC, CHB, LC, and HCC were significantly different (x(2)=15.09, P<0.001). Compared with genotype B, genotype C was more common in patients with CHB and HCC (59.6% vs 43.2%, chi(2)=10.87, P<0.001; 7.7% vs 1.4%, x(2)=7.41, P<0.001), but in patients with LC there was no different (7.7% vs 8.1%, chi(2)=1.29, P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>This study suggests that genotype B and C are predominant. And genotype C may induce more severe the liver inflammation than genotype B may do.</p>