From 230,000 patients to extinct in 15 years: pathology and new drugs key to defeating hepatitis C

An estimated 230,000 Australians have chronic hepatitis C, and a quarter of cases are undiagnosed.

Hepatitis C inflames the liver and unlike the A and B viruses there is no vaccine available. Pathology is important for diagnosing the virus.

Many people with hepatitis C may not experience symptoms, but left untreated the disease can cause cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), which in a small number of cases can lead to liver cancer.

Read more: From 230,000 patients to extinct in 15 years: pathology and new drugs key to defeating hepatitis C

Source: knowpathology

Hepatitis C: Signs and Symptoms

When the liver becomes inflamed due to infection, disease, drugs, poisons, or excessive alcohol, it is referred to as hepatitis. Infectious hepatitis commonly includes hepatitis A, B, or C. All of these forms are caused by viral infections.

The liver is a two-lobed organ found in the upper-right part of the torso. It is responsible for many functions and substances within the body,

Read more: Hepatitis C: Signs and Symptoms

Hepatitis occurs when the liver becomes inflamed due to infection, disease, drugs, poisons, or
excessive alcohol. HCV can spread through needle sharing. Testing for HCV is important if a
patient is experiencing any of the symptoms.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Blood Tests You Need After Age 50

 

Five Blood Tests You Need After Age 50

1. HCV for hepatitis C virus: The virus that kills more Americans than any other disease will probably surprise you: It's hepatitis C.
2. Blood glucose test for diabetes: If you're overweight and have high blood pressure and a history of diabetes in your family, you're a prime candidate for a screening test of the sugar in your blood.
3. Lipid panel for high cholesterol: If your cholesterol numbers are borderline or if you have another health condition like diabetes that would increase your risk of heart problems, you'll want to be tested.
4. Bloodwork for sexually transmitted infections: If you have a new sexual partner, multiple sexual partners, or don't typically use condoms, mention it to your doc.
5. TSH test for hypothyroidism: If your thyroid-stimulating hormone blood test reveals that you have high TSH, you have an underactive thyroid, or hypothyroidism.

Read more: Blood Tests You Need After Age 50

Source: prevention

Sleep Apnea Triggers Pediatric Fatty Liver Disease Progression

Obstructive sleep apnea and low nighttime oxygen - which results in oxidative stress - may trigger progression of pediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) describes the accumulation of fat in the liver of people who drink little or no alcohol. In some individuals with the condition, the accumulated fat causes inflammation and scarring in the liver, resulting in a more serious form of the disease called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

A disease of epidemic proportions, rates of NAFLD are increasing worldwide in both adults and children. NAFLD affects an estimated 30 percent of the population in Western countries and up to 9.6 percent of all children.

Around 38 percent of obese children are affected across the NAFLD spectrum, which includes isolated hepatic steatosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, and cirrhosis.

Read more: Sleep Apnea Triggers Pediatric Fatty Liver Disease Progression

A combination of OSA and low nighttime oxygen triggered NAFLD progression in obese adolescents.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Viral Hepatitis Has Become a Leading Global Killer

Compared with most other communicable diseases, hepatitis has risen in global importance since the 1990s. It is now a leading cause of death and disability worldwide and kills at least as many people as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, or malaria.

This is the main finding of an international study - led by Imperial College London in the United Kingdom and the University of Washington in Seattle - published in The Lancet.

The study - which analyzes data from 1990-2013 on 183 countries - is timely, as the World Health Organization (WHO) launch a major new effort to tackle viral hepatitis.

The findings should prove of "crucial importance to global health policy," note the authors.

Read more: Viral Hepatitis Has Become a Leading Global Killer

At 1.45 million deaths a year, viral hepatitis now ranks among the world'sleading
infectious diseases - such as TB, AIDS/HIV, and malaria.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Gallbladder Problems: Signs, Symptoms, Treatments and Outlooks

Most people don't pay much attention to their gallbladder until it starts causing trouble. However, when the gallbladder starts acting up, it can be quite painful and require immediate action.

This article will look at what the gallbladder does, the symptoms of a problem with the gallbladder, treatment options, and long-term outlook.

What is the gallbladder?

The gallbladder is a 4-inch-long pear-shaped organ found under the liver in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen. It stores the bile the liver makes to digest fat.

Read more: Gallbladder Problems: Signs, Symptoms, Treatments and Outlooks

The gallbladder is found just below the liver. Its job is to store bile used to digest fat.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Scientists Identify Trigger and Treatment

Apart from lifestyle changes and weight loss, there are currently no effective or safe treatments for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Now, for the first time, researchers find that a protein called cdk4 occurs at higher levels in mouse models and human patients with the disease. Also, when they blocked the protein in mice, using drugs, it significantly reduced development of hepatic steatosis - the first stage of the disease.

The study, by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, is published in the journal Cell Reports.

Senior author Nikolai Timchenko, a professor in the department of surgery at the University of Cincinnati and head of the Liver Tumor Biology Program at Cincinnati Children's, says:

"This is the first study to show that cdk4 triggers development of NAFLD [non-alcoholic fatty liver disease] and that inhibiting this enzyme can both prevent and reverse the first step of the disease."

Read more: Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Scientists Identify Trigger and Treatment

The researchers found high levels of a protein called cdk4 in people with fatty livers.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Hepatocellular carcinoma

Liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally and has an incidence of approximately 850,000 new cases per year. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents approximately 90% of all cases of primary liver cancer. The main risk factors for developing HCC are well known and include hepatitis B and C virus infection, alcohol intake and ingestion of the fungal metabolite aflatoxin B1. 

Additional risk factors such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis are also emerging. Advances in the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of HCC have led to identification of critical driver mutations; however, the most prevalent of these are not yet druggable targets. The molecular classification of HCC is not established, and the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging classification is the main clinical algorithm for the stratification of patients according to prognosis and treatment allocation. Surveillance programmes enable the detection of early-stage tumours that are amenable to curative therapies — resection, liver transplantation or local ablation. At more developed stages, only chemoembolization (for intermediate HCC) and sorafenib (for advanced HCC) have shown survival benefits. There are major unmet needs in HCC management that might be addressed through the discovery of new therapies and their combinations for use in the adjuvant setting and for intermediate- and advanced-stage disease. Moreover, biomarkers for therapy stratification, patient-tailored strategies targeting driver mutations and/or activating signalling cascades, and validated measurements of quality of life are needed. Recent failures in the testing of systemic drugs for intermediate and advanced stages have indicated a need to refine trial designs and to define novel approaches.

Read more: Hepatocellular carcinom

Source: NatureReviews

Combined HIV-Hepatitis C Vaccine Soon Preventing Co-Infection

Some 2.3 million people around the world are infected with both HIV and the hepatitis C virus (HCV) at the same time. The two are often intertwined, with HCV being the top cause of death aside from AIDS for co-infected patients. While there are currently vaccines for both hepatitis A and hepatitis B, there is no vaccine for hepatitis C. Likewise, HIV/AIDS treatment has improved significantly in recent decades, but there is still no vaccine.

In a new study, researchers note that a combined HIV and hepatitis C vaccine may soon be on the horizon. The study, which was presented at The International Liver Congress in Barcelona, describes how a combined vaccine would involve two main steps: first, exposing the immune system to adenoviral vectors that contain fragments of both HCV and HIV viruses, which would trigger antigens; and afterwards, administering booster vaccinations in an MVA vector containing the same HCV and HIV virus fragments.

“Finding effective vaccinations against the world’s biggest killers is a huge and pressing problem,” said Laurent Castera, Secretary General of the European Association for the Study of the Liver, in a statement. “This study shows for the first time that it is possible to generate simultaneous immune response against diseases HCV and HIV, raising the possibility of a combined vaccination.”

HIV, or the human immunodeficiency virus, causes HIV infection and over time, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HCV is also a viral infection that mostly targets the liver, resulting in symptoms of fever, dark urine, stomach pain, and eventually liver disease, cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), or liver failure.

Read more: Combined HIV-Hepatitis C Vaccine Soon Preventing Co-Infection

While HIV and hepatitis C vaccines are still in experimental stages, researchers may have paved

the way for a combined vaccine in which they're administered at the same time.

Source: Josep Lago / Getty