Ferritin and liver fibrosis among patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

INTRODUCTION: In chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection there is increased iron absorption leading to iron overload, a fact that may promote ferritin synthesis. Theoretically, increased ferritin should promote ongoing liver fibrosis but disparate results have been described. OBJECTIVE: We analyze the behavior of iron metabolism- related variables, comparing them with fibrosis and inflammatory activity in liver biopsy in HCV infected patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed among 90 HCV patients subjected to liver biopsy prior to antiviral treatment the relationships of serum levels of iron, ferritin, transferrin, transferrin saturation index (TSI) and total iron binding capacity (TIBC) with liver fibrosis and histological severity, assessed by Metavir-f, Metavir-a and Knodell indices, as well as with liver function, and also compared the aforementioned iron metabolism- related variables with 34 controls. RESULTS: Patients showed higher values of sideremia (T = 2.04; p = 0.044) and transferrin (T = 2.29; p = 0.004) compared with controls; but not ferritin, that was significantly higher among the 33 patients who also consumed alcohol (Z = 2.05; p = 0.041). Most patients showed a well preserved liver function (86 cases, Child A). Patients with Child B or C showed higher ferritin levels (Z = 2.68; p = 0.007) and TSI (Z = 2.41; p = 0.016), but lower transferrin and TIBC (Z = 3.25; p = 0.001) than Child A patients. Transferrin and TIBC were directly related to albumin (ρ = 0.24; p = 0.026), whereas bilirubin showed direct relationships with iron (ρ = 0.25; p = 0.016), TSI (ρ = 0.39; p < 0.001) and ferritin (ρ = 0.36; p < 0.001). Both ferritin (ρ = -0.22; p = 0.04) and TSI (ρ = -0.25; p = 0.016) were related to platelet count. No relationships were observed between iron variables and Knodell index, but serum iron, serum transferrin, and TSI were directly related to Metavir-f score (ρ = 0.28; p = 0.009, ρ = 0.22; p = 0.044, and ρ = 0.22; p = 0.044, in this order). CONCLUSION: Alterations of iron related variables are relatively subtle in our series of 90 well compensated HCV patients. Serum ferritin was not related to liver fibrosis and increases only when alcoholism co-exists with HCV infection.

Liver steatosis in hepatitis C patients.

There is controversy regarding some aspects of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection-associated liver steatosis, and their relationship with body fat stores. It has classically been found that HCV, especially genotype 3, exerts direct metabolic effects which lead to liver steatosis. This supports the existence of a so called viral steatosis and a metabolic steatosis, which would affect HCV patients who are also obese or diabetics. In fact, several genotypes exert metabolic effects which overlap with some of those observed in the metabolic syndrome. In this review we will analyse the pathogenic pathways involved in the development of steatosis in HCV patients. Several cytokines and adipokines also become activated and are involved in "pure" steatosic effects, in addition to inflammation. They are probably responsible for the evolution of simple steatosis to steatohepatitis, making it difficult to explain why such alterations only affect a proportion of steatosic patients.

Endocarditis y espondilodiscitis por Streptococcus suis / Endocarditis and spondylodiscitis caused by Streptococcus suis

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Eficacia del tratamiento antirretroviral en pacientes con infección por el virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana. Estudio de 807 pacientes / Impact of new antiretroviral combination therapies on human immunodeficiency virus in infected patients. Study of 807 patients

Fundamento: La historia natural de la infección por el virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH), así como el espectro de enfermedades asociadas a ésta, se han modificado a raíz de la utilización del tratamiento antirretroviral combinado. Realizamos este estudio para analizar en nuestro centro la historia natural de la infección por VIH en relación con los avances terapéuticos que se han desarrollado desde el inicio de la epidemia. Pacientes y métodos: Revisamos las historias clínicas de los 807 pacientes adultos con infección por el VIH atendidos en el Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC) entre 1985 y 1999. Resultados: La incidencia de la mayoría de infecciones oportunistas, casos de sida, ingresos y fallecimientos disminuyó a partir del año 1997. Los pacientes que iniciaron tratamiento antirretroviral de alta eficacia (HAART) desarrollaron un menor número de casos de sida, y tuvieron un menor número de ingresos y de fallecimientos que los que recibieron otras modalidades de tratamiento. La supervivencia de los pacientes que iniciaron tratamiento con HAART o llegaron a recibir HAART a lo largo de la evolución fue mejor que los que recibieron otras modalidades de tratamiento (p < 0,001), independientemente del grado de inmunodepresión y del diagnóstico de sida. En el análisis multivariado, la terapia HAART resultó ser el mejor factor de protección al disminuir el riesgo de fallecer (p < 0,001). Conclusiones: El uso de la terapia combinada de alta eficacia produce un marcado beneficio en la supervivencia de los pacientes con infección por el VIH independientemente del grado de inmunodepresión. Así mismo, retrasa la progresión de la infección por el VIH, y disminuye el número de casos de sida, los ingresos y las muertes. (AU)