Background: Human Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells (HWJMSCs) express liver-specific markers such as albumin, alpha-fetoprotein, cytokeratin-19, cytokeratin-18, and glucose-6-phosphatase. Therefore, they can be considered as a good source for cell replacement therapy for liver diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of various culture systems on the hepatocyte-specific gene expr...

conclusions fap is an accurate, reliable, and noninvasive approach that can also be combined with other metabolic biomarkers to comprehensively detect and quantify hepatic steatosis. results the difference in fap was significant (p < 0.001) between chb-only patients and chb patients with hepatic steatosis. the cytokeratin 18 fragment (ck18-m65) level was significantly higher in chb patients wit...

We have read with great interest the meta-analysis by Yang et al. (1). The reported objective was to evaluate the relation between cytokeratin-18 (CK-18) levels and hepatitis pathogenesis. Eight case-control studies were included in the meta-analysis according to the selection criteria adopted. High serum CK-18 levels were found in patients with hepatitis compared to controls. Moreover, increas...

A novel circulating tumor-associated autoantibody, K94, obtained from a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) mouse model was characterized. The target antigen of K94 autoantibody was expressed in various tumor cell lines including liver cancer, and its secretion was detectable using MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells. Proteomic analysis revealed that the protein bands reactive to K94 included cytokeratin (...

The etiology of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains unclear. A mechanism involving the autoimmune reaction in the pathogenesis of COPD has been proposed but not confirmed. The aim of this study was to investigate whether serum autoantibodies against pulmonary cellular proteins are present in COPD patients and to identify their autoantigens if possible. Samples from 50 COPD pati...

BACKGROUND Apoptosis plays a role in the development of pleural effusion. Caspase-cleaved cytokeratin 18, a marker for epithelial cell apoptosis, was evaluated in pleural effusion. METHODS A total of 79 patients with pleural effusion were enrolled. The underlying causes were lung cancer (n=24), parapneumonic effusion (n=15), tuberculous effusion (n=28), and transudates (n=12). The levels of M...

The abundance and cytoplasmic organization of keratin filaments enables them to contribute to the maintenance of structural integrity in epithelial tissues. Co-polymers of the type II keratin 8 and type I keratin 18 form the major intermediate filament network in simple epithelia. We investigated the mechanical properties of K8-K18 filament suspensions using rheological assays in conjunction wi...

BACKGROUND Patients with biopsy-proven NASH and especially those with fibrosis are at risk for progressive liver disease, emphasizing the clinical importance of developing non-invasive biomarkers for NASH and NASH-related fibrosis. AIM This study examines the performance of a new biomarker panel for NASH and NASH-related fibrosis with a combination of clinical and laboratory variables. METH...