HBcrAg values may predict virological and immunological responses to pegIFN-α in NUC-suppressed HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B.

OBJECTIVE: Selected populations of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) may benefit from a combined use of pegylated interferon-alpha (pegIFN-α) and nucleos(t)ides (NUCs). The aim of our study was to assess the immunomodulatory effect of pegIFN-α on T and natural killer (NK) cell responses in NUC-suppressed patients to identify cellular and/or serological parameters to predict better T cell-restoring effect and better control of infection in response to pegIFN-α for a tailored application of IFN-α add-on. DESIGN: 53 HBeAg-negative NUC-treated patients with CHB were randomised at a 1:1 ratio to receive pegIFN-α-2a for 48 weeks, or to continue NUC therapy and then followed up for at least 6 months maintaining NUCs. Serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B core-related antigen (HBcrAg) levels as well as peripheral blood NK cell phenotype and function and HBV-specific T cell responses upon in vitro stimulation with overlapping HBV peptides were measured longitudinally before, during and after pegIFN-α therapy. RESULTS: Two cohorts of pegIFN-α treated patients were identified according to HBsAg decline greater or less than 0.5 log at week 24 post-treatment. PegIFN-α add-on did not significantly improve HBV-specific T cell responses during therapy but elicited a significant multispecific and polyfunctional T cell improvement at week 24 post-pegIFN-α treatment compared with baseline. This improvement was maximal in patients who had a higher drop in serum HBsAg levels and a lower basal HBcrAg values. CONCLUSIONS: PegIFN-α treatment can induce greater functional T cell improvement and HBsAg decline in patients with lower baseline HBcrAg levels. Thus, HBcrAg may represent an easily and reliably applicable parameter to select patients who are more likely to achieve better response to pegIFN-α add-on to virally suppressed patients.

The Clinical Utility of the Saliva Proteome in Rare Diseases: A Pilot Study for Biomarker Discovery in Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis.

BACKGROUND: Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare chronic inflammatory liver disease characterized by biliary strictures and cholestasis. Due to the lack of effective serological indicators for diagnosis and prognosis, in the present study, we examined the potentiality of the saliva proteome to comprehensively screen for novel biomarkers. METHODS: Saliva samples of PSC patients and healthy controls were processed and subsequently analyzed using a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry technique. A bioinformatic approach was applied to detect the differentially expressed proteins, their related biological functions and pathways, and the correlation with the clinical evidence in order to identify a possible marker for the PSC group. RESULTS: We identified 25 differentially expressed proteins in PSC patients when compared to the healthy control group. Among them, eight proteins exhibited area under the curve values up to 0.800, suggesting these saliva proteins as good discriminators between the two groups. Multiple positive correlations were also identified between the dysregulated salivary proteins and increased serum alkaline phosphatase levels and the presence of ulcerative colitis. Pathway analysis revealed significant enrichments in the immune system, neutrophil degranulation, and in the interleukine-17 signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated the potentiality of saliva as a useful biofluid to obtain a fingerprint of the pathology, suggesting disulfide-isomerase A3 and peroxiredoxin-5 as the better discriminating proteins in PSC patients. Hence, analysis of saliva proteins could become, in future, a useful tool in the screening of patients with suspected PSC.

A holistic evaluation of patients with chronic Hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection enrolled in the Italian PITER-B and delta cohort.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: We aimed to characterize the epidemiologic and comorbidities profiles of patients with chronic Hepatitis D (CHD) followed in clinical practice in Italy and explored their interferon (IFN) eligibility. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of the PITER cohort consisting of consecutive HBsAg-positive patients from 59 centers over the period 2019-2023. Multivariable analysis was performed by logistic regression model. RESULTS: Of 5492 HBsAg-positive enrolled patients, 4152 (75.6%) were screened for HDV, 422 (10.2%) were anti-HDV positive. Compared with HBsAg mono-infected, anti-HDV positive patients were more often younger, non-Italians, with a history of drug use, had elevated alanine transaminase (ALT), cirrhosis, or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Compared with Italians, anti-HDV positive non-Italians were younger (42.2% age ≤ 40 years vs. 2.1%; P < 0.001), more often females (males 43.0% vs. 68.6%; P < 0.001) with less frequent cirrhosis and HCC. HDV-RNA was detected in 63.2% of anti-HDV-positive patients, who were more likely to have elevated ALT, cirrhosis, and HCC. Extrahepatic comorbidities were present in 47.4% of anti-HDV positive patients and could affect the eligibility of IFN-containing therapies in at least 53.0% of patients in care. CONCLUSIONS: CHD affects young, foreign-born patients and older Italians, of whom two-thirds had cirrhosis or HCC. Comorbidities were frequent in both Italians and non-Italians and impacted eligibility for IFN.

Actividad in vitro de niveles séricos y urinarios de amoxicilina y amoxicilina-sulbactam sobre 820 cepas de escherichia coli aisladas de infecciones urinarias bajas extrahospitalarias: estudio sudamericano / In vitro activity at serum and urinary levels of amoxicillin and amoxicillin-sulbactam against 820 escherichia coli strains isolated from community acquired urinary tract infections: South American collaborative study

Previamente, habíamos demostrado la actividad que poseen amoxicilina-sulbactam y sulbactam solo frente a Escherichia coli en la orina. Realizamos un estudio para determinar la etiología de las infecciones urinarias bajas no complicadas de la comunidad (IUBNCC) en Sudamérica. Participaron 10 laboratorios de 8 países sudamericanos. Cada laboratorio envió al centro coordinador (CEA, Bs. Aires) los resultados de susceptibilidad a amoxicilina y amoxicilina-sulbactam por el método de discos en 100 aislamientos consecutivos obtenidos de pacientes de 3 a 70 años con IUBNCC y además remitieron 20 cepas de E. coli consecutivas consideradas resistentes a amoxicilina por el método de disco. En el CEA se comprobó la CIM de amoxicilina, amoxicilina-sulbactam (2:1) y sulbactam solo; se determinó el título inhibitorio de la orina (TIO) en 12 voluntarios que recibieron una dosis oral de 500:500 mg de amoxicilina-sulbactam. Las orinas se recolectaron a las 0 a 2,2 a 4 y 4 a 6 h luego de la administración de amoxicilina-sulbactam y los TIO se verificaron sobre 5 cepas de E. coli resistentes (R) y 1 cepa sencible (S) a amoxicilina-sulbactam seleccionadas con diferentes CIM, entre las recibidas de cada centro participante; se determinaron las concentraciones de amoxicilina y sulbactam en la orina por un método microbiológico. Resultados: E. coli fue predominante 820/1.000 (82 por ciento); P, mirabilis y K. pneumoniae (4,3 por ciento ambas); S. saprophyticus (4,1 por ciento) y otros (5,3 por ciento). Susceptibilidad por discos en E. coli: 59,4 por ciento R a amoxicilina; 16,9 por ciento intermedias (I) y 23,7 por ciento S y para amoxicilina-sulbactam 28 por ciento R, 19,2 por ciento I y 52,8 por ciento S. Determinación de CIM: se estudiaron 102 E. coli R a amoxicilina-sulbactam, las CIM 90 (µg/ml fueron: amoxicilina > 2.048; amoxicilina-sulbactam: 256/128 y sulbactam solo, 128. TIO: Variaron desde > 1/32 a las 2 h; 1/16-1/4 a las 4 h y 1/4-1/2 a las 6 h para todas cepas estudiadas. Niveles de ATB en orina (µg/mI): amoxicilina y sulbactam respectivamente a las 2 h: 1.414 y 1.904: a las 4 h: 691 y 1.257 y a las 6 h: 462 y 641. Nuestros resultados confirman el predominio de E. coli en IUBNCC en Sudamérica y explican las discrepancias entre las resistencia supuesta por el método de discos y los éxitos clínicos logrados con amoxicilina-sulbactam en IUBNCC