Alcoholic Liver Diseases (alcoholic + liver_diseases)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Laparoscopic findings of liver cirrhosis due to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis

DIGESTIVE ENDOSCOPY, Issue 4 2003
Teruki Miyake
A 42-year-old Japanese man was admitted to our hospital for investigation of abnormal liver function tests. He had no history of drug use, and drank little alcohol. Body mass index was 30. Serum was negative for viral markers and autoantibodies. Laparoscopy revealed diffuse small nodules on the liver surface. Liver biopsy revealed small nodules with pericellular fibrosis and macrovesicular fat deposition throughout the acini. Some inflammatory changes were observed. Liver cirrhosis due to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) was diagnosed. NASH displays similar histological and laparoscopic characteristics to alcoholic liver diseases. [source]


The interleukin-17 pathway is involved in human alcoholic liver disease,,

HEPATOLOGY, Issue 2 2009
Arnaud Lemmers
Immune dysregulations in alcoholic liver diseases are still unclear, especially regarding alcoholic hepatitis inflammatory burst. Interleukin-17 (IL-17) is known to enhance neutrophil recruitment. We studied the IL-17 pathway in alcoholic cirrhosis and alcoholic hepatitis. Patients with alcoholic liver disease were compared with patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection or autoimmune liver disease and with healthy controls. IL-17 plasma levels and peripheral blood mononuclear cell secretion were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and T cell phenotype by flow cytometry. IL-17 staining and co-staining with CD3 and myeloperoxidase were performed on liver biopsy specimens. IL-17 receptor expression was studied on liver biopsies and in human hepatic stellate cells as well as their response to recombinant IL-17 by chemotaxis assays. IL-17 plasma levels were dramatically increased in alcoholic liver disease patients. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with alcoholic liver disease produced higher amounts of IL-17, and their CD4+ T lymphocytes disclosed an IL-17,secreting phenotype. In the liver, IL-17,secreting cells contributed to inflammatory infiltrates in alcoholic cirrhosis, and alcoholic hepatitis foci disclosed many IL-17+ cells, including T lymphocytes and neutrophils. In alcoholic liver disease, liver IL-17+ cells infiltrates correlated to model for end-stage liver disease score, and in alcoholic hepatitis to modified discriminant function. IL-17 receptor was expressed in alcoholic liver disease by hepatic stellate cells, and these cells recruited neutrophils after IL-17 stimulation in a dose-dependent manner through IL-8 and growth related oncogen , (GRO-,) secretion in vitro. Conclusion: Human alcoholic liver disease is characterized by the activation of the IL-17 pathway. In alcoholic hepatitis, liver infiltration with IL-17,secreting cell infiltrates is a key feature that might contribute to liver neutrophil recruitment. (Clinical trials number NCT00610597). (HEPATOLOGY 2009;49:646,657.) [source]


Reconsidering the increase of expression of GGT in alcoholic liver diseases

HEPATOLOGY RESEARCH, Issue 11 2007
Tetsuya Mine
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Genetic Repeat Polymorphism in the Regulating Region of CYP2E1: Frequency and Relationship With Enzymatic Activity in Alcoholics

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 6 2001
E. Plee-Gautier
Background: Differences in the regulatory region of the CYP2E1 gene could be responsible for the interindividual variation in the cytochrome P-450 2E1 (CYP2E1) involved in ethanol oxidation. Recently, a polymorphic repeat sequence in the human gene was described between ,2178 and ,1945 base pairs. Its frequency seemed to vary among different ethnic populations, and it was suspected to be related to an increased inducibility to further ethanol intake. In the study reported here, the frequency of this polymorphism was investigated in a white French population. Its relationship with the previously described Pst I/Rsa I or Dra I CYP2E1 polymorphisms, alcoholism, alcoholic liver disease, and inducibility of CYP2E1 by ethanol was examined. Methods: The polymorphic region was characterized by polymerase chain reaction in 103 controls, 148 alcoholic subjects without liver diseases, and 98 others with liver cirrhosis. By using in vivo chlorzoxazone (CHZ) metabolism, CYP2E1 phenotype was assessed in 36 non,ethanol-induced subjects (17 controls and 19 withdrawn alcoholics) and in 14 ethanol-induced subjects (10 controls after ingestion of 0.8 g/kg ethanol and four alcoholics with 100 g of daily intake). This phenotype was expressed as the 6-hydroxy CHZ/CHZ ratio. Results: The rare allele frequency was found to be 1.58% in whites (n= 349). Neither significant association with alcoholism or alcoholic liver diseases, nor relationship with the Pst I/Rsa I polymorphism, was observed. But the Dra I polymorphism was more frequent among the heterozygous subjects when compared with wild-type homozygous ones (p < 0.05). The CYP2E1 phenotype was similar in wild-type homozygotes and in heterozygotes at the constitutive level, as well as after induction with ethanol. Conclusions: Our data suggest that CYP2E1 repeat polymorphism does not seem to constitute a major factor for interindividual differences in CYP2E1 expression and susceptibility to alcohol-related disorders in whites. [source]


Serum thioredoxin elucidates the significance of serum ferritin as a marker of oxidative stress in chronic liver diseases

LIVER INTERNATIONAL, Issue 5 2001
Yoshio Sumida
Abstract:Background/Aims: Serum thioredoxin (TRX) levels have recently been established as an indicator of oxidative stress in various diseases. The aim of the present study was to clarify the clinical significance of serum ferritin in chronic liver diseases. Methods: Levels of ferritin, transferrin saturation (TS), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and TRX were measured in the sera of patients with chronic hepatitis C (CH-C, n=92), chronic hepatitis B (CH-B, n=28), nonalcoholic fatty liver (FL, n=31), or alcoholic liver diseases (ALD, n=17). Serum TRX levels were evaluated with a recently established sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Results: Serum TRX levels were significantly higher in CH-C, FL, and ALD than in healthy volunteers. A larger proportion of patients with CH-C, FL, and ALD had elevated levels of serum ferritin than CH-B. Serum ferritin levels were positively correlated with levels of TS, AST, and TRX in CH-C, but were merely correlated with TS values in CH-B. Ferritin levels were also well correlated with AST and TRX, but not with TS in FL and ALD. Conclusion: Oxidative stress, which was evaluated by measuring serum TRX, in addition to storage iron and hepatocyte damage is a cause of increasing serum ferritin levels in chronic liver diseases. An elevated serum ferritin level, which was correlated with TS, indicates that iron-induced oxidative stress contributes to CH-C. Elevated ferritin levels in FL and ALD may be mostly due to iron-unrelated stresses. [source]