The efficacy and complications of using transvaginal mesh to treat pelvic organ prolapse in Taiwan: A 10-year review.

Transvaginal mesh (TVM) insertion for the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is significantly associated with lower failure rates, although its use remains controversial due to the potential risk of mesh-related complications. In this review, we collected the published literature regarding the use of TVM to treat POP in an attempt to assess both the efficacy and complications related to TVM usage in Taiwan. We searched 25 English language articles using PubMed related to TVM in Taiwan from 2010 to 2019. The present article focuses on the efficacy and complications of TVM and analyzes the data. There were 25 studies on TVM selected for this review. Regarding their success rate, 21 out of the 22 studies (95.5%) had more than a 90% objective success rate. Twenty studies (90.9%) had less than 10% major complications of TVM. Twenty out of the 25 studies (80.0%) had 5% or less mesh exposure. For self-cut TVM and the later single-incision TVM, both the complication rates and exposure rates decreased. The rate of de novo dyspareunia ranged from 2.6% to 14.3%, and the incidence decreased yearly from 2011 to 2019. This review showed both the high treatment efficacy and low complication rate of TVM usage for the short-term treatment of POP in Taiwan. However, a longer-term study is needed to draw a conclusion regarding the safety of this treatment.

Hepatitis C virus ARFP/F protein interacts with cellular MM-1 protein and enhances the gene trans-activation activity of c-Myc.

The ARFP/F protein is synthesized from the +1 reading frame of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein gene. The function of this protein remains unknown. To study the function of the HCV ARFP/F protein, we have conducted the yeast two-hybrid screening experiment to identify cellular proteins that may interact with the ARFP/F protein. MM-1, a c-Myc interacting protein, was found to interact with HCV ARFP/F protein in this experiment. The physical interaction between ARFP/F and MM-1 proteins was further confirmed by the GST pull-down assay, the co-immunoprecipitation assay and confocal microscopy. As MM-1 can inhibit the gene transactivation activity of c-Myc, we have conducted further analysis to examine the possible effect of the ARFP/F protein on c-Myc. Our results indicate that the HCV ARFP/F protein can enhance the gene trans-activation activity of c-Myc, apparently by antagonizing the inhibitory effect of MM-1. The ability of the ARFP/F protein to enhance the activity of c-Myc raises the possibility that ARFP/F protein might play a role in hepatocellular transformation in HCV patients.