RANTES, MCP-1, CCR2, CCR5, CXCR1 and CXCR4 Gene Polymorphisms are not Associated with the Outcome of Hepatitis B Virus Infection: Results from a Large Scale Single Ethnic Population

Recovery from hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection depends on the cellular immune responses. Chemokines and their receptors play significant roles in immune defense. This study was undertaken to investigate the association between HBV infection and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of genes for the chemokines and their receptors. Between March 2002 and February 2004, a total of 957 single ethnic Korean patients were enrolled into two different groups; "HBV clearance group" (n=350), who have recovered from HBV infection, and "HBV persistence group" (n=607), who were repeatedly HBsAg-positive. The HBV persistence group was subdivided into "inactive carrier" and "HBV progression group (chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis)". We assessed polymorphisms in regulated and normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) at position -403, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) at position -2518, CCR2 V64I, CCR5 -2459, CXCR1 S276T and CXCR4 I138I using single primer extension assay. Genotype distributions of the "HBV clearance versus persistence group" and "inactive carrier versus HBV progression group" were compared. On the basis of unconditional logistic regression analysis with adjustment for age and sex, no statistically significant association with susceptibility to persistent HBV infection was observed with RANTES -403, MCP-1 -2518, CCR2 V64I, CCR5 -2459, CXCR1 S276T, and CXCR4 I138I polymorphisms. In addition, no association of analyzed SNPs with HBV disease progression was found.

Immunohistochemical comparison of the telomerase expression between low-grade and high-grade gastric dysplasia / 대한내과학회지

BACKGROUND: Telomeres are simple repeats elements located at each end of the chromosomes of eukaryotic cells. The main function of telomeres is to cap the chromosome end and protect it from enzymatic attack. Telomerase that facilitates the synthesis of telomere has been detected in not only cancer, but also in precancerous lesion. In this study, we compared the telomerase expression between low-grade and high-grade gastric dysplasia. METHODS: The telomerase expression of 43 patients with gastric dysplasia (22 low-grade and 21 high-grade) was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining in tissues. RESULTS: The telomerase expression was much higher in the tissues from the patients with high-grade gastric dysplasia than in those tissues of the patients with low-grade gastric dysplasia. CONCLUSIONS: Activation of telomerase may be related with the malignant potentiality in gastric cells. Further studies are needed to define the role of telomerase in gastric tumorigenesis.

Ghrelin; Influences on Helicobacter pylori-associated Gastric Diseases / 대한소화기학회지

Recently, gastric Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) colonization has been shown to affect the expression of leptin and ghrelin, hormones that control appetite and satiety. Gastric leptin, produced by chief and parietal cells and released in response to meals, may play a role in weight gain after eradication of H. pylori infection, whereas ghrelin, produced by X/A-like enteroendocrine cells in oxyntic gland, is released during fasting, and suppressed by feeding and leptin. Whether either that H. pylori genes represent microbial contributions to the complement of thrifty genes of humans, or that H. pylori disappearance plays a role in adiposity remains to be determined. Simply, ghrelin-leptin might tango in body weight regulation, gastric inflammation, and gastric motility. In the current review about the possible role of ghrelin in gastric inflammation, we found that high serum albumin condition decreased ghrelin expression, whereas serum albumin deprivation significantly increased ghrelin expression, however, of which regulation was abolished after H. pylori infection. Ghrelin significantly attenuated the inflammatory stimuli imposed after H. pylori, shown with inactivation of phospho-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK) and nuclear factor-KappaB (NF-KappaB)-DNA binding activities. Conclusively, besides orexigenic and weight gaining actions of gastric hormone, ghrelin, it likely endows the stomach the protective effect from exogenous damages.

The Treatment Effect of Savary Bougie Dilation in Benign Esophageal Strictures / 대한소화기내시경학회지

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Bougie dilatation is generally considered to be effective treatment of benign esophageal stricture. However, sometimes its therapeutic effect was unsatisfactory, or symptom used to recur after treatment. We reviewed our data to evaluate the efficacy of bougie dilation, and examined the factors associated with the bougienation effect. METHODS: Fifty-five patients, who were diagnosed with a benign esophageal stricture, underwent bougie dilation, and were followed up for more than 6 months, and were retrospectively analyzed. The treatment effects were graded as 'cure', 'fair', 'poor', and 'no effect'. The factors which influenced the treatment effect were analyzed. RESULTS: For the patients of severe pre-dilatation symptoms, long stricture lesion, and severe endoscopic stricture, the therapeutic effect of bougienation was significantly bad (p=0.002, 0.001, 0.019). Therapeutic effect was higher in patients who were treated with large diameter dilator in the first session (p=0.005), and has stronger relation with the length of stricture than the degree of stricture. In the follow-up period, 45 (81.8%) of 56 patients has achieved cure response. In the cure response group, 30 patients (66.7%) needed one, 5 (11.1%) needed two, 5 (11.1%) needed three, 3 (6.7%) needed four, 1 (2.2%) needed five, and the last one (2.2%) needed six sessions of bougienation. CONCLUSIONS: The luminal diameter of the stricture, the length of the stricture and the diameter of the dilator used in the initial session were associated with treatment effect. Bougie dilatation was reconfirmed to be effective treatment modality for benign esophageal stricture.

A Case of Endoscopic Treatment of Multiple Carcinoid Tumors in Stomach / 대한소화기내시경학회지

Multiple carcinoid tumors in stomach are very rare tumors and associated with pernicious anemia, chronic atrophic gastritis and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. These are believed to be due to hypergastrinemia, resulting in chronic stimulation of enterochromaffine-like (ECL) cells, leading to hyperplasia, metaplasia and ultimately neoplasia. The carcinoid tumor is potentially malignant, even though it may grow slowly, so the treatment of choice must be endoscopic lumpectomy or surgical gastrectomy. The prognosis depends on the site of the tumor and its size. Most carcinoid tumors are less than 1 cm in size and metastasis is uncommon but metastasis in tumors with size over 2 cm is common. A case of multiple carcinoid tumors in stomach, which was successfully removed by endoscopy, is herein reported.