A 36-year-old male, diagnosed with atopic dermatitis and allergy to egg white when he was a baby, was diagnosed in adolescence with Bird-Egg Syndrome and seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis with bronchial asthma. Five years later, he developed rhinosinusitis, nasosinusal polyposis and persistent bronchial asthma. At the age of 27, this individual presented with eosinophilic esophagogastroduodenitis and peripheral eosinophilia with a total IgE of 1,989 KU/mL and repeatedly tested negative for antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies. When he was 31-year-old, the patient was admitted to the hospital due to an exacerbation of his asthma, the onset of fever, bilateral migratory lung infiltrates and maculopapular lesions in the ankles (leukocytoclastic vasculitis). He was also diagnosed with motor-sensory polyneuritis. Finally, this patient met the criteria of allergic granulomatosis with polyangiitis and was treated with Omalizumab (monthly) with effective recovery.

Currently, infection with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), during pregnancy is a problem worthy of attention, especially in patients with underlying diseases. In this case report, we present a case of chronic active hepatitis B with COVID-19 in pregnancy. A 31-year-old woman at 29 weeks of gestation who had a history of chronic hepatitis B virus infection discontinued antiviral treatment, was admitted to the hospital with chronic active hepatitis B, and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. In this case, we applied liver protective and antiviral agents, and low-dose dexamethasone therapy to successfully treat the critically ill pregnant woman suffering from chronic active hepatitis B combined with COVID-19.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of end-stage liver disease, including decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Over 95% of patients with HCV infection have achieved sustained virologic response at 12 weeks under the treatment of several pan-genotypic regimens approved for patients with HCV infection. The glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (G/P) regimen has some features that distinguish it from others and is the only 8-week regimen approved for treatment-naive patients and patients experienced in regimens containing (peg)interferon, ribavirin, and/or sofosbuvir, without an HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitor or NS5A inhibitor (except those with genotype 3). This review aims to summarize the efficacy and safety of G/P in HCV-infected patients from clinic trials and real-world studies, including those who have historically been considered difficult to cure.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy techniques have been developed over many years, and anti-angiogenic therapy, molecular targeted therapy and immune-checkpoint inhibitors have become increasingly effective for treating lung cancer. However, the overall disease-free and survival rates of lung cancer remain quite low. MicroRNAs are small, non-coding RNAs that consist of an average of 22 nucleotide molecules. MicroRNAs play an important role in the development, progression, metastasis, diagnosis and prognosis of lung cancer. This review summarizes the recent publications abnormally expressed miRNAs and the abnormal expression of their target genes in the biological process of lung cancer. This review aims to shed light on the recent advances in this field and to provide perspectives for future directions.

Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) is a key enzyme of alcohol metabolism and it is involved in the cellular mechanism of alcohol liver disease. ALDH2 gene mutations exist in about 8% of the world’s population, with the incidence reaching 45% in East Asia. The mutations will result in impairment of enzyme activity and accumulation of acetaldehyde, facilitating the progression of other liver diseases, including non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases, viral hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma, through adduct formation and inflammatory responses. In this review, we seek to summarize recent research progress on the correlation between ALDH2 gene polymorphism and multiple liver diseases, with an attempt to provide clues for better understanding of the disease mechanism and for strategy making.

As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines continue to be reviewed and approved by regulatory bodies for emergency use, mass vaccination against COVID-19 is on the horizon. This will significantly reduce the incidence and mortality of COVID-19. However, the unintended consequences of mass vaccination and their associated challenges could be urgent and severe. To effectively prepare for and meet these challenges, we propose three guiding principles and share cautionary perspectives on the mass vaccination against COVID-19. These opinions could help shape policy-making and the implementation of the mass vaccination.

Great efforts have been made towards increasing our understanding of the pathogenesis involved in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the rapid growth inherent to such tumor development remains to be explored.

We identified distinct gene coexpression modes upon liver tumor growth using weighted gene coexpression network analysis. Modeling of tumor growth as signaling activity was employed to understand the main cascades responsible for the growth. Hub genes in the modules were determined, examined in vitro, and further assembled into the growth signature.

We revealed modules related to the different growth states in HCC, especially the fastest growth module, which is preserved among different HCC cohorts. Moreover, signaling flux in the cell cycle pathway was found to act as a driving force for rapid growth. Twenty hub genes in the module were identified and assembled into the growth signature, and two genes (NCAPH, and RAD54L) were tested for their growth potential in vitro. Genetic alteration of the growth signature affected the global gene expression. The activity of the signature was associated with tumor metabolism and immunity in HCC. Finally, the prognosis effect of the growth signature was reproduced in nine cancers.

These results collectively demonstrate the molecule organization of rapid tumor growth in HCC, which is a highly synergistic process, with implications for the future management of patients.

Liver fibrosis represents a response to chronic liver injury. Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis are the most common chronic liver diseases, both with increasing incidence. Therefore, there is a great impetus for development of agents targeting these conditions. Accumulating data on possible treatment options for liver fibrosis are emerging in the literature. However, despite extensive research and much effort in the field, approved agents for liver fibrosis are still lacking. In this critical review, we have summarized the main data about specific treatment options for liver fibrosis gained from ongoing clinical trials, with an emphasis on efficacy and safety of these agents.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is common and affects between 40–100% of the worldwide population. However, the majority of cases are asymptomatic and when severe disease occurs, it is usually restricted to immunocompromised patients. Liver involvement by HCMV differs significantly, accordingly to the immune status of the host. In immunocompromised patients, particularly liver transplant patients, it often causes clinically significant hepatitis. On the other hand, in immunocompetent patients, HCMV hepatitis requiring hospitalization is extremely rare. This review aims to appraise studies regarding the pathophysiology of HCMV hepatitis, including mechanisms of latency and reactivation and its contribution to disease development, clinical presentation, diagnostic modalities and treatment, with a focus on comparing different aspects between immunocompromised and immunocompetent hosts.

Multiple non-invasive methods including radiological, anthropometric and biochemical markers have been reported with variable performance. The present study assessed glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C) as a biomarker to predict non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and its severity, compared with body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR) and waist circumference (WC)

This case control study included 450 individuals, including 150 cases and 300 age- and gender-matched controls recruited from the Dow Radiology Institute on the basis of radiological findings of fatty infiltration on abdominal ultrasound through convenient sampling. BMI, WHR and WC were measured according to standard protocols. HbA1C was determined by turbidimetric inhibition immunoassay

Among the cases and controls, 66% and 32% had HbA1C levels higher than 5.7% respectively. HbA1C and BMI were significantly associated with NAFLD [crude odds ratio (cOR)=4.12, 2.88, 2.25 (overweight) and 4.32 (obese)]. WC was found to be significantly associated with NAFLD for both genders (cOR in males=5.50 and females=5.79, p<0.01). After adjustment for other parameters, HbA1C and WC were found to be significantly associated with NAFLD (aOR=3.40, p<0.001) along with WC in males (aOR=2.91, p<0.05) and in females (aOR=4.28, p<0.05). A significant rise in severity of hepatic steatosis was noted with increases in HbA1C, BMI and WC. HbA1C possessed a positive predictive value of 76% for the study population [0.76, confidence interval (CI): 0.715-0.809], 70.6% for males (0.706, CI: 0.629-0.783) and 80% for females (0.80, CI: 0.741-0.858).

Higher than normal HbA1C and WC measurements possess a more than 70% potential to predict NAFLD. It is the single risk factor that is strongly associated with NAFLD after adjustment for indices of body measurements. HbA1C may be presented as a potential biomarker for NAFLD in examination with other anthropometric measures in the adult population.

The goal of this analysis was to evaluate the association between county-level ambient vinyl chloride (VC) and county-level liver cancer incidence and mortality rates in Texas. Modeled county-level ambient VC data were obtained from the National Air Toxics Assessment. Age-adjusted county-level liver cancer incidence rates were abstracted from the Texas Cancer Registry and age-standardized county-level liver cancer mortality rates were obtained from the peer-reviewed literature. Multivariable imputation was utilized to impute incidence rates in counties with suppressed liver cancer incidence rates. Negative binomial and Poisson regression models were utilized to evaluate the association between county-level ambient VC and county-level liver cancer incidence and mortality rates, respectively, adjusted for county-level heavy drinking prevalence, hepatitis mortality rates, median income, and race (percent Hispanic). County-level ambient VC was not associated with county-level liver cancer incidence or mortality rates. Specifically, when compared to the lowest tertile of ambient VC, the middle (relative risk [RR]: 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.95–1.19) and highest (RR: 1.03, 95% CI: 0.90–1.17) tertiles of ambient VC were not associated with liver cancer incidence. Similarly, county-level ambient VC in the middle (RR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.85–1.05) and highest (RR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.82–1.05) tertiles were not associated with liver cancer mortality. This analysis suggests that county-level ambient VC is not associated with liver cancer incidence or mortality in Texas. Our study provides novel results regarding liver cancer risk from low-level non-occupational exposure to ambient VC.