BACKGROUND It is unclear if the risk of liver disease associated with different levels of alcohol consumption is higher for patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). We evaluated associations between alcohol use categories and advanced hepatic fibrosis, by HIV and chronic HCV status. METHODS We performed a cross-sectional study among partici...

OBJECTIVE To determine factors associated with hepatic fibrosis development in people with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. METHODS As a requirement for access to interferon therapy through the S100 scheme in Australia, individual pretreatment demographic and clinical information was collected on 2986 patients from 61 hospital-based liver clinics from 1 October 1994 through 31 Decem...

background the fas receptor/ligand system including soluble forms is the most important apoptotic initiator in the liver. dysregulation of this pathway may contribute to abnormal cell proliferation and cell death and is regarded as one of the mechanisms preventing the immune system from rejecting the tumor cells. objectives to analyze the role of fas system fas/ fas ligand (fas/ fasl) in the mu...

The effects of a fermentation filtrate of Ganoderma lucidum (FGL) on carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4))-induced hepatic fibrosis were investigated in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were orally administered with FGL (20 or 100 mg/kg) for 33 days, and orally administered with CCl(4) (1.0 mL/kg; 2 mL/kg of 50% in corn oil) at 3-day intervals 1 h after FGL treatment. Body and liver weights, blood and hi...

Hepatic fibrosis reflects hepatotoxin-mediated activation of hepatic stellate cells, resulting in their proliferation and transformation to myofibroblasts that secrete collagen. This activation is suppressed by estrogen, an effect which explains the decreased risk for hepatic fibrosis enjoyed by premenopausal women and by postmenopausal women receiving hormone replacement therapy. Since stellat...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of octreotide treatment on hepatic heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression, together with the influence of altered hepatic HO-1 expression levels on hepatic function and fibrosis in bile duct-ligated rats. The rats were divided randomly into sham, cirrhotic, cobalt protoporphyrin and octreotide treatment groups. The expression levels of hep...

BACKGROUND Increased hepatic iron is assumed to potentiate progression towards liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. In this study we have evaluated the potentiating effect of marked hepatic iron overload and chronic HCV infection on hepatic fibrosis in thalassemic patients. METHODS Liver biopsies of one group of patients with beta thalassemia major and chronic HCV infe...

Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture has been reported to increase the therapeutic potentials of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). However, the action mechanisms of 3D MSCs vary greatly and are far from being thoroughly investigated. In this study, we aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of 3D spheroids of human adipose-derived MSCs for hepatic fibrosis. Our results showed that 3D culture e...

BACKGROUND Our aim was to study the effect of caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) on iNOS and cystathionine gamma-lyase (CSE) of hepatic fibrosis rat, and discuss the anti-hepatic fibrosis mechanism of caffeic acid phenethyl ester. MATERIAL AND METHODS We observed changes of NO and H2S in serum of hepatic fibrosis rats. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to test OD value of iNOS and C...

Arkadia is able to degrade key signaling molecules in the transforming growth factor (TGF)‑β1 signaling pathway; however, the expression of Arkadia in the liver during development and progression of TGF‑β1/Smad signaling‑regulated hepatic fibrosis remains to be elucidated. The present study aimed to examine Arkadia expression in the livers of two rat models of hepatic fibrosis induced by bile d...