Tahereh Ghaziani

Serum measures of iron status and HFE gene mutations in patients with hepatitis B virus infection

Aim:  We tested associations between HFE mutations and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. We also explored measures of total body iron status and their association with chronic HBV infection.

Liver, spleen, pancreas and kidney involvement by human fascioliasis: imaging findings

BackgroundFasciola hepatica primarily involves the liver, however in some exceptional situations other organs have been reported to be involved. The ectopic involvement is either a result of Parasite migration or perhaps eosinophilic reaction.Case presentationHere we report a known case of multiple myeloma who was under treatment with prednisolone and melphalan. He was infected by Fasciola hepatica, which involved many organs and the lesions were mistaken with metastatic ones.DiscussionPresented here is a very unusual case of the disease, likely the first case involving the pancreas, spleen, and kidney, as well as the liver.

Aspirin use is associated with lower indices of liver fibrosis among adults in the United States.

Recent animal studies have shown that platelets directly activate hepatic stellate cells to promote liver fibrosis, whereas anti‐platelet agents decrease liver fibrosis. It is unknown whether platelet inhibition by aspirin prevents liver fibrosis in humans.

Utility of the dual-specificity protein kinase TTK as a therapeutic target for intrahepatic spread of liver cancer

Therapies for primary liver cancer, the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, remain limited. Following multi-omics analysis (including whole genome and transcriptome sequencing), we were able to identify the dual-specific protein kinase TTK as a putative new prognostic biomarker for liver cancer. Herein, we show that levels of TTK protein are significantly elevated in neoplastic tissues from a cohort of liver cancer patients, when compared with adjacent hepatic tissues. We also tested the utility of TTK targeted inhibition and have demonstrated therapeutic potential in an experimental model of liver cancer in vivo. Following lentiviral shRNA knockdown in several human liver cancer cell lines, we demonstrated that TTK boosts cell growth and promotes cell spreading; as well as protects against senescence and decreases autophagy. In an experimental animal model, we show that in vitro knockdown of TTK effectively blocks intrahepatic growth of human HCC xenografts. Furthermore, we note that, in vivo silencing of TTK, by systemically delivering TTK siRNAs to already tumor-bearing liver, limits intrahepatic spread of liver cancer cells. This intervention is associated with decreased tumor aggressiveness, as well as increased senescence and autophagy. Taken together, our data suggest that targeted TTK inhibition might have clinical utility as an adjunct therapy in management of liver cancer.

Hemochromatosis Mutations in Iranians with Hepatitis B Virus Infection

In this study, the frequencies of the common hemochromatosis gene mutations were assessed in 75 Iranian subjects with chronic hepatitis B infection. We found that the major C282Y mutation was significantly more frequent in subjects infected with hepatitis B virus (4%) than in 194 control subjects (0%, P=.02; Fishers exact test).

Letter: would aspirin alleviate fibrosis in alcoholic liver disease? Authors' reply.

icantly correlated with reduced odds ratio for advanced fibrosis in suspected ALD. However, although ibuprofen was used as control, one still could not rule out the possibility that patients with advanced fibrosis do not take aspirin for the fear of bleeding for example. The author suggested that aspirin might alleviate progression of liver fibrosis through its anti-platelet function, while alcohol itself can inhibit aggregation of platelets in a dose-dependent manner (for review). On the other hand, there was a study that showed that aspirin could reduce the metabolism of ethanol in the human body and potentially increase the adverse effects of alcohol. A recent study confirmed that aspirin and its metabolite, salicylate, could inhibit activities of human alcohol dehydrogenases including alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehyrogenase, two principal enzymes responsible for ethanol metabolism. Based on these evidences, effect of aspirin in ALD might be limited. Nevertheless, this article indicated that aspirin might associate with lower liver fibrosis in the human body especially in virus hepatitis and NASH and it greatly expanded our understanding on this issue. Further studies are warranted to confirm this result.

Seroprevalence of celiac disease in autoimmune hepatitis and chronic hepatitis B

Purpose: The association between celiac disease (CD) and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) has been already reported, but the association between CD and chronic hepatitis B(CHB) is uncertain. In this study, serological screening for CD was performed in patients with AIH and CHB to define the seroprevalence of this association.