Elevated production of IL-36α in chronic hepatitis B virus-infected patients correlates with viral load.

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection is a typical inflammatory disease characterized by a dysregulated expression of cytokines, which contributes to the pathogenesis of chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. IL-36 cytokines (IL-36α, IL-36ß, IL-36γ and IL-36Ra) are important players in infection and immunity. However, their roles in the pathogenesis of chronic HBV infection remain unknown. Here the circulating concentrations of IL-36 cytokines from 50 CHB patients and 30 healthy controls were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Sera concentrations of IL-36α were found to be significantly elevated in CHB patients, while the concentrations of IL-36ß, IL-36γ and IL-36Ra were not significantly different in comparison to healthy donors. Furthermore, increased IL-36α concentrations correlated positively with HBV-DNA levels in CHB patients. Our study suggests that IL-36α production was up-regulated during CHB infection, which could be directly related to HBV-DNA loads in CHB patients. The immunoregulatory role of IL-36α in the pathogenesis of chronic HBV infection should be further studied.

Piperacillin-sulbactam versus piperacillin-tazobactam: a multicentre, randomised, single-blind, controlled clinical trial.

The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of piperacillin-sulbactam (PIP-SBT) and piperacillin-tazobactam (PIP-TAZ) in the treatment of bacterial respiratory and urinary tract infections. A randomised, single-blind, controlled clinical trial was performed. Differences in clinical efficacy, bacteriology and safety between the two groups were subjected to statistical analysis, including intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis. A total of 215 cases were enrolled, with 203 complete cases (99 PIP-SBT, 104 PIP-TAZ). A total of 209 cases (103 PIP-SBT, 106 PIP-TAZ) were included in the ITT analysis and a total of 212 cases (104 PIP-SBT, 108 PIP-TAZ) were included in the safety analysis. Overall efficacy rates of PIP-SBT and PIP-TAZ were 93.2% and 93.4%, respectively. Overall bacterial eradication rates of the two groups were 95% and 97.59%, respectively. Among the PIP-SBT group, eight patients (7.69%) had adverse events, including four probable drug-related events. Among the PIP-TAZ group, nine patients (8.33%) had adverse events, including one definitely drug-related and four probable drug-related events. All differences between the two groups were insignificant. PIP-SBT could be a suitable replacement for PIP-TAZ in the therapy of community-acquired respiratory and urinary tract infections caused by beta-lactamase-producing bacterial isolates.