Diagnostics and outcome predictorso drug induced liver injury: a single center prospective study

Background: Although drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a rare clinical event, it carries significant morbidity and mortality. The diagnostic approach of DILI is still challenging because of lack of reliable markers that would allow distinguishing DILI from other causes of liver injury. Objective: To study the demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics, and their relation to outcome of patients with DILI. Patients and Methods: Case control study conducted on 80 participants divided into two groups; Group I 40 patients with acute DILI and Group II 40 patients with acute viral induced liver injury. Subjects were systematically evaluated for clinical and laboratory characteristics, other etiologies, severity of DILI with application of Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method (RUCAM) and liver biopsy whenever feasible and were all followed for 6 months thereafter. Results: Diclofenac was the most incriminated drug in DILI group (16 cases, 40%). Hepatocellular injury pattern was more common (28 cases, 70%). Infection with acute hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) were the commonest etiology of viral hepatitis (32 cases, 80%). All patients with acute viral hepatitis, improved with no recorded mortality nor chronicity. While 6 patients (15%) with DILI died. Conclusion: The diagnostic approach of DILI is still rudimentary and inaccurate and require high index of suspicion and thus, careful assessment is required to distinguish DILI from other causes of liver injury

The Diagnostic Value of CD11b Expression on Peripheral Blood Neutrophils for Detection of Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis

Background: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is associated with the highest mortality among end-stage cirrhotic liver disease patients. Neutrophil CD11b expression increases on the neutrophil surface within 5 min of exposure to bacteria. Paracentesis remains the only accepted method for accurate evaluation of patients, with many drawbacks; hence, a diagnostic noninvasive marker with a very high sensitivity and high diagnostic accuracy is very necessary. Aim of the study: to evaluate the neutrophil CD11b as a non-invasive biomarker for the diagnosis of SBP, comparing its sensitivity and specificity to other traditional methods. Patients and Methods: 200 patients who had liver cirrhosis with ascites were recruited to the Hepatology department inpatient wards of the National Liver Institute, Menoufia University. They were divided into Group I: 100 patients with SBP and Group II: 100 patients with non SBP ascites. All studied patients were subjected to full clinical examination, abdominal ultrasound, paracentesis, and laboratory investigations including ascetic fluid (AF) examinations. The CD11b expression and its mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) were assessed on peripheral blood neutrophils by flowcytometry. Results: There was a significant increase in the MFI of CD11b in the SBP group compared to the non SBP group. At cut off >20 for MFI of CD11b with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 100% can discriminate between SBP and non SBP cases followed by ascetic fluid TLC examination at a cut off 0.26 (×103) with a sensitivity of 92%, and specificity of 96%, then, AF neutrophil count at cut off 0.25 (×103) with a sensitivity of 80%, specificity of 100%, and AF culture examination with a sensitivity of 56% and specificity of 100%. Conclusion: The measurement of CD11b MFI on peripheral blood neutrophils is a useful non-invasive marker with high sensitivity and specificity to predict SBP compared with other methods. Further large-scale studies are needed to study the value of CD11b MFI level in the SBP follow-up therapy

The value of YKL-40 in ischemic heart disease patients

Introduction Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease is considered to be the most common cause of myocardial ischemia. YKL-40, a chitin-binding acute phase glycoprotein, has been found to be expressed by macrophages in atherosclerotic plaques. The YKL-40 could potentially be a new useful biomarker to monitor severity and predict early diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in ischemic heart disease (IHD) patients. Aim The aim of this study was to measure the level of serum YKL-40 in IHD patients and to clarify its role as a potentially beneficial diagnostic marker in those patients. Patients and methods Serum YKL-40 was measured in 60 IHD patients and 30 healthy controls. According to chest pain analysis, ECG changes, and cardiac enzymes, the IHD patients were categorized into patients with stable angina and patients with ACS. Results The median level of YKL-40 (pg/ml) was significantly elevated in patients with IHD compared with the control group (2080 (575.5–5974.6) vs 522.6 (133.2–769.5), respectively; P<0.001). The median level of YKL-40 was also significantly higher in patients with ACS compared with patients with stable angina (2436 (576–5975) vs 1015 (675–1822), respectively; P˂0.001). There was a positive correlation between YKL-40 levels and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (mg/dl) in all studied groups of IHD patients. However, no significant correlation was detected between YKL-40 and age, systolic or diastolic blood pressure, and lipid profile in patients with IHD. Conclusion YKL-40 might play an important role as a diagnostic and prognostic marker in patients with IHD and in patients with ACS

Complicated Hepatitis A Virus Infection: A Report of Three Cases from Single Tertiary Referral Center

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is the commonest form of acute viral hepatitis all over the world. Complicated HAV cases had been reported with evolving presentations. This is a report of three cases of non-fulminant HAV infections annotating rare non hepatic sequalae

Haptoglobin phenotypes as a risk factor for coronary artery disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus: An Egyptian study

Objective: Diabetes has long been known to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Recognition of diabetic individuals at greatest risk of developing coronary artery disease (CAD) would have important public health importance by allowing the distribution of limited resources to be directed on those who would most benefit from aggressive management. Several functional differences between haptoglobin (Hp) phenotypes have been demonstrated that appear to have important biological and clinical consequences in the development of CAD in patients with type 2 DM. The present study was conducted to demonstrate the relationship between the Hp phenotypes and the development of CAD among Egyptian patients with type 2 DM. To our knowledge this work had not been carried out in Egypt before. Subjects and methods: The study included 160 subjects divided into three groups. Group I: 72 type 2 DM patients without CAD, Group II: 48 type 2DM patients with developed CAD, Group III: 40 age and gender matched apparently healthy subjects to serve as controls. All patients and controls were subjected to full history taking, complete clinical examination, and routine laboratory investigations. Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and serum haptoglobin levels were measured. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for Hp phenotypes’ determination. Results: Analysis revealed association between Hp2-2 phenotype and the presence of CAD in type 2 DM. Hp and CRP serum levels were significantly higher in patients with CAD. Although the levels of Hp did not reach significance among patients with different Hp phenotypes yet the individual with Hp2-2 phenotype had trend toward higher level. Conclusion: Hp2-2 phenotype is considered to be a major susceptibility gene for the development of CAD in type 2 DM. Awareness of this gene susceptibility should raise future research for proper treatment and prevention of CAD development in type 2 DM

Correlations of folic acid, vitamin B12, homocysteine, and thrombopoietin to platelet count in HCV infection

IntroductionThe platelet count is known to decrease in proportion to the advancement of the stage of liver disease in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) viral infection. The platelet count is currently used as an index for fibrosis staging. The pathophysiology of thrombocytopenia (TCP) in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is not completely understood. PurposeThis work aimed to study the correlations of folic acid (FA), vitamin B12 (Vit B12), homocysteine (Hcy), and thrombopoietin to the platelet count in HCV infection. Patients and methods Sixty-seven patients (51 men and 16 women) with HCV infection were included in this study. All patients were sero-negative for hepatitis B viral markers. In addition, 20 healthy volunteers, matched for sex and age, were included as a control group. All patients and control individuals were subjected to the following: assessment of medical history, thorough clinical examination, and laboratory investigations including the following: complete blood cell counts, viral hepatitis markers, liver and renal function tests, HCV-RNA by quantitative PCR, serum folate, Vit B12, thrombopoietin, and plasma Hcy. Abdominal ultrasonography and ultrasound-guided liver biopsy for histopathologic examinations were carried out for the patients. Patients were divided into two groups of 36 patients with CHC and 31 patients with cirrhosis with HCV liver cirrhosis (LC). Results The Results indicated a significant decrease in the platelet count in CHC and LC patients compared with the healthy control group. There was a highly significant decrease in the FA level in CHC and LC patients compared with the control group; also, a significant decrease in the platelet count was found in LC patients compared with CHC patients. Hcy was significantly increased in CHC and LC patients. There was a nonsignificant decrease in Vit B12 in CHC patients, whereas it was significantly increased in LC patients. There was a nonsignificant decrease in thrombopoietin in CHC patients compared with the control group, whereas in LC patients, there was a highly significant decrease. There was a highly significant positive correlation between the platelet count and FA, but an insignificant correlation between the platelet count and Hcy, Vit B12, thrombopoietin, and viral load. Conclusion This study concluded that TCP in HCV-related chronic liver diseases is multifactorial and decreased FA is involved in its pathogenesis as an independent risk factor. Increased Hcy may cause TCP through platelet activation and endothelial dysfunction

Circulating cell free DNA as a predictor of systemic lupus erythematosus severity and monitoring of therapy

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the most heterogeneous chronic autoimmune disease; it is characterized by the presence of auto reactive B and T cells, responsible for the aberrant production of a broad and heterogeneous group of autoantibodies. Recent studies using various detection methods have demonstrated the elevations of circulating DNA in SLE patients. Aim of the study: The current study aimed to measure cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) in SLE patients as a potential tool to predict disease activity and treatment follow up. Subjects and methods: 52 of SLE patients with age ranging from 10 to 48 years were randomly selected and 25 healthy subjects with age and gender matched with the patients were included as a control group. Thorough clinical examination stressing on the central nervous system, vascular, renal, rash, musculoskeletal, mucocutaneous manifestations, and fever was done for patients. The following investigations were done: Complete blood count (CBC), kidney function tests, C-reactive protein (CRP), routine autoantibodies for autoimmune diseases, complements (C3 & C4), anti-nucleosome antibodies and cf-DNA by real time PCR (RT-PCR). Results: The levels of anti-double stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA), anti-nucleosome Ab, and cf-DNA were significantly increased in SLE patients compared to controls. The cf-DNA level was correlated to markers of disease severity namely CRP and anti-nucleosome. A significant reduction in levels of cf-DNA, anti-nucleosome Ab and anti-dsDNA was noticed after therapy. Conclusion: Our findings support that the measurement of cf-DNA appears to be a useful marker in addition to laboratory tests used in SLE diagnosis. High correlation with markers of disease severity suggesting its role in disease pathogenesis and decreasing its level after therapy makes it to be a marker of treatment follow-up