Advantages of a Novel Model for Predicting Hepatic Fibrosis in Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Carriers Compared with APRI and FIB-4 Scores.

Background and Aims: Aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) and fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4) are widely used to assess liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Currently, the definition of normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is controversial. We aimed to examine the diagnostic value of APRI and FIB-4 in chronic HBV carriers with different upper limits of normal (ULNs) for ALT. Methods: 581 chronic HBV carriers were divided into the following four groups based on different ULNs for ALT: chronic HBV carriers I, II, III, and IV. Furthermore, 106 chronic HBV carriers formed an external validation group. Predictive values of APRI and FIB-4 were elucidated using the area under the curve (AUC). A liver fibrosis-predictive model-GPSA (named for its measure of gamma glutamyl transpeptidase, platelet count, HBsAg and albumin) was developed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: In chronic HBV carriers I, the AUCs of APRI and FIB-4 were 0.680 and 0.609 for significant fibrosis and 0.678 and 0.661 for cirrhosis, respectively. The AUCs of GPSA for significant fibrosis in the training group, internal group, and external validation group were 0.877, 0.837, and 0.871, respectively. The diagnostic value of GPSA differed among chronic HBV carriers I, II, III, and IV, with AUCs for significant fibrosis being 0.857, 0.853, 0.868, and 0.905 and AUCs for cirrhosis being 0.901, 0.905, 0.886, and 0.913, respectively. GPSA showed a higher diagnostic value than APRI and FIB-4 for predicting significant fibrosis in the four groups. Conclusions: The GPSA model allows for accurate diagnosis of liver fibrosis in chronic HBV carriers with different ULN for ALT.

[Inhibitory effect of combined transfection of p53 and AS genes on K562 cell proliferation].

This study was aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of combined transfection of p53 and angiostatin (AS) genes on K562 cells and to explore its mechanism. pVTRIO2-hp53-hAS was transfected into K562 cells with lipofectamine 2000, RT-PCR was used to determine the expression of gene of interest in transfected cells, MTT growth curve and flow cytometry were used to analyze the cell cycle for observation biological changes of cells, the cellular immunochemistry assay was used to observe the expression differences between VEGF, Bcl-2 and Bax proteins. The results indicated that the genes of interest have been transfected and stably expressed, the increase of K562 with genes of interest was slower than that without genes of interest (p<0.05). And the increase of K562 in double gene group was slower than that in p53 and AS groups (0.264+/-0.011 at last day A290 nm; 0.652+/-0.039 at last day A290 nm; 0.604+/-0.017 at last day A290 nm respectively) (p<0.05). After transfection, the expressions of VEGF and Bcl-2 protein decreased, but the expressions of Bax increased. It is concluded that the combined transfection of p53 and AS genes into K562 cells shows more notable and powerful inhibition on proliferation than those transfected with single one gene. The synergistic mechanism of p53 and AS genes may be commonly influenced the pathway of Bcl-2 and Bax expression.