[Efficacy of lamivudine on acute-on-chronic liver failure in patients with chronic hepatitis B].

To observe the therapeutic effects of lamivudine treatment in patients with early- to mid-stage hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF). Clinical data of 73 hospitalized patients with HBV-ACLF were retrospectively analyzed. Prothrombin time (PT, active coagulation), HBV DNA, and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score data from treatment weeks 4, 8, 24, and 48 were collected and analyzed using the statistical t-test. During the treatment duration, the complete virologic response rates were 57.5% (42/73) at 4 weeks, 71.0% (44/62) at 8 weeks, 83.1% (49/59) at 24 weeks, and 86.5% (45/52) at 48 weeks. The partial virologic response rates were 30.1% (22/73) at 4 weeks, 25.8% (16/62) at 8 weeks, 17.0% (10/59) at 24 weeks, and 13.5% (7/52) at 48 weeks. At week 48, the survival rate was 71.2% (52/73) and the probability of survival was higher in the complete virological response rate (VRR) group than in the partial VRR group [45/73 (61.6%) vs. 7/73 (30.1%), respectively; P = 0.000]. In addition, there were significant improvements in the serum normalization rate of HBV DNA, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, albumin, total bilirubin, PT and MELD score in surviving patients compared to baseline (P less than 0.05) and in the complete VRR group compared to the partial VRR group (P less than 0.05). Antiviral therapy using lamivudine may be an effective therapeutic option for patients with HBV-ACLF.

[Effect of TGF-b1 siRNA-mediated silencing on Smad proteins in hepatic fibrosis rats].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes in Smad 2, 3, 4 and 7 of the transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-b1)/Smad signaling pathways in carbon tetrachloride (CCL4)-induced hepatic fibrosis rats treated with TGF-b1 small interfering (si)RNA. METHODS: Rats were randomly divided among five groups: non-fibrotic (normal); fibrosis-induced (model); fibrotic treated with 0.125 mg/kg TGF-b1 siRNA; fibrotic treated with 0.250 mg/kg TGF-b1 siRNA; and fibrotic treated with negative control TGF-b1 siRNA. The expression of Smad 2, 3, 4 and 7 was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (for mRNA), immunohistochemistry and Western blotting (for protein). RESULTS: The mRNA and protein levels of Smad 2, 3 and 4 were significantly lower in the the fibrotic rats treated with either 0.250 mg/kg or 0.125 mg/kg TGF-b1 siRNA than in the fibrotic model or the negative control TGF-b1 siRNA rats (P less than 0.01). Moreover, the mRNA and protein expression levels of Smad 2, 3 and 4 were significantly lower in the 0.250 mg/kg TGF-b1 siRNA group than in the 0.125 mg/kg group (P less than 0.05). Comparing the 0.250 mg/kg and 0.125 mg/kg TGF-b1 siRNA groups to the model group and the TGF-b1 siRNA negative control group showed significantly increased levels of mRNA and protein expression of Smad 7 (P less than 0.01). In addition, the expression levels of Smad 7 were significantly higher in the 0.250 mg/kg TGF-b1 siRNA group than in the 0.125 mg/kg group (P less than 0.05). CONCLUSION: siRNA-mediated silencing of TGF-b1 in rats led to significantly reduced expression of Smad 2, 3 and 4, but significantly increased expression of Smad 7. TGF-b1 regulation of Smad signaling molecules may contribute to hepatic fibrosis in rats and represent a target of future therapeutic intervention.

The antifibrotic effects of TGF-ß1 siRNA on hepatic fibrosis in rats.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Hepatic fibrosis results from the excessive secretion of matrix proteins by hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), which proliferate during fibrotic liver injury. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß1 is the dominant stimulus for extracellular matrix (ECM) production by stellate cells. Our study was designed to investigate the antifibrotic effects of using short interference RNA (siRNA) to target TGF-ß1 in hepatic fibrosis and its mechanism in rats exposed to a high-fat diet and carbon tetrachloride (CCL4). METHODS: A total of 40 healthy, male SD (Sprague-Dawley) rats were randomly divided into five even groups containing of eight rats each: normal group, model group, TGF-ß1 siRNA 0.125mg/kg treatment group, TGF-ß1 siRNA 0.25mg/kg treatment group and TGF-ß1 siRNA negative control group (0.25mg/kg). CCL4 and a high-fat diet were used for 8weeks to induce hepatic fibrosis. All the rats were then sacrificed to collect liver tissue samples. A portion of the liver samples were soaked in formalin for Hematoxylin-Eosin staining, classifying the degree of liver fibrosis, and detecting the expression of type I and III collagen and TGF-ß1; the remaining liver samples were stored in liquid nitrogen to be used for detecting TGF-ß1 by Western blotting and for measuring the mRNA expression of type I and III collagen and TGF-ß1 by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Comparing the TGF-ß1 siRNA 0.25mg/kg treatment group to the model group, the TGF-ß1 siRNA negative control group and the TGF-ß1 siRNA 0.125 mg/kg treatment group showed significantly reduced levels of pathological changes, protein expression and the mRNA expression of TGF-ß1, type I collagen and type III collagen (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Using siRNA to target TGF-ß1 can inhibit the expression of TGF-ß1 and attenuate rat hepatic fibrosis induced by a high-fat diet and CCL4. A possible mechanism is through the down-regulation of TGF-ß1 expression, which could inhibit HSC activation, as well as the proliferation and collagen production of collagen reducing, so that collagen deposition in the liver is reduced.

[Construction and identification of siRNA eukaryotic expression vectors targeting on TGFß1, TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 genes in vitro].

OBJECTIVE: To construct the siRNA eukaryotic expression vectors targeting on TGFß1, TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 and to investigate the inhibitory efficiency of target genes expression on rat hepatic stellate cell in vitro. METHODS: The siRNA cDNA sequences of TGFß1, TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 were designed, synthesized and inserted into plasmid pGenesil-1 respectively to generate eukaryotic expression plasmids. The plasmids were transfected into HSC T6 cells in vitro and the inhibitory efficiency of target genes expression was observed with real-time PCR and Western blot. RESULTS: The eukaryotic expression vectors were constructed successfully. The expressions of TGFß1 mRNA, TIMP-1 mRNA and TIMP-2mRNA in siRNA-transfected groups were decreased by 63.4% ± 8.0%, 64.5% ± 9.0% and 55.0% ± 17.0% respectively and the expressions of TGFß1 protein, TIMP-1 protein and TIMP-2 protein were decreased by 57.8% ± 3.0%, 55.1% ± 5.0%, 49.3% ± 1.0% respectively as compared to the control groups. CONCLUSIONS: The siRNA eukaryotic expression vectors constructed targeting on TGFß1, TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 could reduce the expressions of target genes and they might be able to used for the exploration of new anti-fibrosis drugs genetically.