Elevated plasma interleukin-6 and increased severity and mortality in alcoholic hepatitis

Recent studies in alcoholic hepatitis have proposed a role for the cytokine tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) a mediator of endotoxic shock in sepsis. In this study plasma levels of the closely related cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) were assayed in 96 samples from 58 patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis, and 69 patients in control groups (21 normal, 10 alcoholic without liver disease, 10 inactive alcoholic cirrhosis, 18 chronic liver disease, 10 chronic renal failure). Plasma IL-6 levels were markedly elevated in patients with alcoholic hepatitis when compared with all control groups (P less than 0.001). IL-6 levels were higher in patients who died (P = 0.04) and correlated with the features of severe disease including: increased grade of encephalopathy, increased neutrophil count, increased prothrombin ratio, hypotension, increased serum creatinine and increased serum bilirubin. Surprisingly, no correlation was found between levels of plasma IL-6 and plasma TNF-alpha or endotoxin, or the presence of infection; an inverse correlation was found between plasma IL-6 and serum globulins. These findings provide further evidence that the IL-6/TNF cytokine system is activated in severe alcoholic hepatitis and may mediate hepatic or extra-hepatic tissue damage.

Epidemiology, bacteriology and control of an outbreak of Nocardia asteroides infection on a liver unit

An outbreak of Nocardia asteroides infection affecting seven patients is described. Over a 5-week period, five patients with liver disease admitted to a ward developed clinical and laboratory evidence of nocardiosis, and two further cases were diagnosed 3 and 5 months later. Three out of the five patients who received specific antimicrobial therapy responded to treatment; in three patients nocardia infection was considered to have contributed to death. In six out of the seven patients, nocardiosis followed immunosuppression. A common-source outbreak was considered to be responsible for infection in the first five patients. In two patients, presentation of infection 5 and 7 months after the first case may have been due to prolonged colonization or subclinical infection with Nocardia. Biotyping of the seven isolates using a fluorogenic biochemical method identified three distinct strains of N. asteroides. The most probable source of Nocardia was contaminated brick and plaster dust arising from building work in an area adjacent to the ward. However, samples of air, dust and water failed to yield N. asteroides. Infection control measures included ward closure followed by thorough cleaning, and formaldehyde fumigation.

Long-term trends in male drunkenness arrests in metropolitan Toronto: effects of social-setting detoxication centers

Drunkenness arrest rates for adult males in Toronto decreased substantially during the period 1966 to 1987. In 1971 there was a change in legislation permitting police to take public inebriates to detoxication centers. Drunkenness rates continued to decline at a rate similar to that for the previous 3 years. The next year drunkenness arrests increased but subsequently declined at a rate which was 50% greater than that which preceded the change in legislation. Since 1973 year by year changes in the rate of male drunkenness arrests have not been consistently related to rates of police admission to detoxication centers or to total admissions to detoxication centers. The results suggest that recent trends in drunkenness arrests have been influenced by the 1971 change in legislation and the increased use of detoxication centers. However, the influence of other factors must also be considered.

Inhibitors of hepatic DNA synthesis in fulminant hepatic failure

In certain etiological groups of patients with fulminant hepatic failure, poor survival may be due to lack of liver regeneration. In vitro experiments have shown that fulminant hepatic failure serum is cytotoxic to rabbit hepatocytes and inhibits DNA synthesis on short-term incubation with isolated regenerating rat hepatocytes. When fulminant hepatic failure serum is injected into partially hepatectomized rats at the time of maximal DNA synthesis, [3H]thymidine incorporation into hepatic DNA is reduced significantly. The effect is greater with sera obtained from patients with fulminant hepatic failure due to non-A, non-B hepatitis or an adverse drug reaction and is associated with a less than 10,000-dalton fraction. No stimulation of DNA synthesis is observed with injection of the greater than 10,000-dalton serum fraction into normal rats. In preliminary experiments, no increase in epidermal growth factor production has been found in liver failure. Overall, the substances present in fulminant hepatic failure serum appear to be inhibitory rather than stimulatory for liver cell regeneration.

Graft-versus-host disease in solid organ transplantation

Graft-versus-host disease is well recognized in bone marrow transplantation, but has only recently been described in solid organ transplantation. Two such cases in liver graft recipients, proven by the demonstration of donor type HLA antigens in the peripheral blood and marrow on tissue typing, are described in this paper. The literature on this subject is reviewed and the treatment discussed. It is postulated that there is an order of risk of development of graft-versus-host disease depending on the amount of viable lymphoid tissue included with the transplanted organ as follows: small bowel greater than heart-lung greater than liver greater than kidney greater than heart. It seems likely that this condition has been substantially underdiagnosed in the past and that greater awareness of the possibility of graft-versus-host disease in solid organ recipients will lead to the recognition of further cases and allow appropriate treatment to be promptly instituted.

Intensive liver care and management of acute hepatic failure

In describing acute liver failure, the term fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) is used to denote patients with the most rapid progression, normally defined as the onset of encephalopathy within eight weeks of the onset of symptoms. For patients with a slower onset of encephalopathy, ranging from eight weeks to six months after the onset of symptoms, late-onset hepatic failure is the term used to reflect the overlap in clinical features with some patients with FHF. The importance of accurately determining the type of acute liver failure results from increasing evidence of an inverse relationship between the tempo of disease progression and the chances of recovery. Prognosis is also dependent on the underlying etiology. Principles of management are as follows: (1) an accurate recognition of the tempo of the hepatic failure--fulminant, late onset, acute on chronic--and the establishment of a likely etiology; (2) early detection and treatment of complications, particularly metabolic acidosis (early), renal failure, cerebral edema, and infection (late); (3) optimization of conditions for regeneration by maintenance of a near normal metabolic milieu (with removal of toxins by various methods of artificial liver support if necessary); and (4) early consideration of an orthotopic liver transplant for those patients in the poor prognosis group. Variations in the natural history and clinical features of acute liver failure (ALF) have led to a number of different classifications and subgroupings. Knowledge of these is important in relation to the assessment of prognosis and is even more important now that transplantation is a therapeutic option.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Natural history and prognostic variables in primary sclerosing cholangitis

The clinical features at the time of presentation and the outcome in 126 patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis were studied to clarify the natural history and prognosis in symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. The median age of the patients at the time of presentation was 36 years, 62% were male, and 16% were asymptomatic. The median follow-up from time of presentation was 5.8 years. There were more patients who had liver transplants (21%) than patients who died of liver-related disease (16%); the estimated median survival to these end points was 12 years. Cholangiocarcinoma was found in 8 patients and in 23% of those undergoing liver transplantation. Asymptomatic patients had milder disease than symptomatic patients, but in a univariate analysis the presence of symptoms was not prognostically significant. On multivariate analysis, the following independent prognostic factors were found: hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, serum alkaline phosphatase, histological stage, and age. These features were combined to produce a prognostic model that should be valuable in the stratification of patients in clinical trials and in the timing of liver transplantation, particularly in those patients seen soon after presentation.

Detection of HBV-DNA using a digoxigenin-labelled probe. A rapid technique without loss of sensitivity

The sensitivity of four different non-radiolabelled HBV-DNA probes (digoxigenin-, biotin-, acetylaminoflorene-, chemiprobe-labelled) in detecting HBV-DNA were compared with a 32P-labelled HBV-DNA probe using a spot hybridisation assay. Of the non-radiolabelled probes, the probe using digoxigenin labelling was the most sensitive with reliable and reproducible detection to between 1-3 pg HBV-DNA. The use of digoxigenin-labelled HBV-DNA hybridisation assay deserves wider application for the detection of HBV-DNA because of a number of advantages including ease, speed, safety and cost.

Focal nodular hyperplasia of the liver: results of treatment and options in management

Twenty two patients (19 females) with focal nodular hyperplasia were seen between 1973 and 1989. Five were children, and all the adults were aged under 42 years (median 33 years). Fourteen patients (64%) were symptomatic on presentation. Twelve of the 14 adult women had taken the oral contraceptive pill. Twelve patients, nine of whom were symptomatic, underwent hepatic resection shortly after presentation. There were no deaths or major complications, and all remain well on follow up. Four patients underwent either hepatic artery embolisation or ligation. After an interval of six to 10 years they were asymptomatic and only one has histological evidence of residual focal nodular hyperplasia. Of five patients initially treated conservatively, two were asymptomatic and have remained so for three and 13 years. One of the three symptomatic patients became symptom free after stopping the contraceptive pill. The management of focal nodular hyperplasia requires a flexible approach. Lesions which are asymptomatic can be observed with regular ultrasound and treated if they enlarge or become symptomatic. Symptomatic patients who present while taking the contraceptive pill can also have a trial of conservative treatment. Other symptomatic patients, including those who previously took the pill, are best treated by surgical resection, and, where this is not possible, by embolisation.

Echocardiographic detection of coronary artery disease during dobutamine infusion

BACKGROUND

Two-dimensional echocardiography performed during dobutamine infusion has been proposed as a potentially useful method for detecting coronary artery disease. However, the safety and diagnostic value of dobutamine stress echocardiography has not been established.

METHODS AND RESULTS

In this study, echocardiograms were recorded during step-wise infusion of dobutamine to a maximum dose of 30 micrograms/kg/min in 103 patients who also underwent quantitative coronary angiography. The echocardiograms were digitally stored and displayed in a format that allowed simultaneous analysis of rest and stress images. Development of a new abnormality in regional function was used as an early end point for the dobutamine infusion. No patient had a symptomatic arrhythmia or complications from stress-induced ischemia. Significant coronary artery disease (greater than or equal to 50% diameter stenosis) was present in 35 of 55 patients who had normal echocardiograms at rest. The sensitivity and specificity of dobutamine-induced wall motion abnormalities for coronary artery disease was 89% (31 of 35) and 85% (17 of 20), respectively. The sensitivity was 81% (17 of 21) in those with one-vessel disease and 100% (14 of 14) in those with multivessel or left main disease. Forty-one of 48 patients with abnormal echocardiograms at baseline had localized rest wall motion abnormalities. Fifteen had coronary artery disease confined to regions that had abnormal rest wall motion, and 26 had disease remote from these regions. Thirteen of 15 patients (87%) without remote disease did not develop remote stress-induced abnormalities, and 21 of 26 (81%) who had remote disease developed corresponding abnormalities.

CONCLUSIONS

Echocardiography combined with dobutamine infusion is a safe and accurate method for detecting coronary artery disease and for predicting the extent of disease in those who have localized rest wall motion abnormalities.

Cyclosporine pharmacokinetics in liver transplant recipients: evaluation of results using both polyclonal radioimmunoassay and liquid chromatographic analysis

Pharmacokinetic variables were derived from cyclosporine measurements using liquid chromatography (HPLC) and radioimmunoassay with a non-selective polyclonal antibody (PARIA) in 11 orthotopic liver transplant recipients studied in paired oral and intravenous studies both before and after permanent clamping of the biliary T-tube. After oral drug administration, mean areas under blood cyclosporine concentration versus time curves before clamping were around 5.2-fold greater by PARIA than HPLC but 2.9-fold greater after clamping and closer to comparable values after intravenous cyclosporine (2.5 and 2.3-fold, respectively). Cyclosporine clearance was smaller by PARIA than HPLC (mean 7.3 versus 3.3 ml.min-1.kg-1, respectively, before clamping). Both values decreased by 25% after clamping (to 5.5 and 2.4 ml.min-1.kg-1, respectively), although there was no significant change in distribution or elimination half-lives (around 0.5 and 8 h, respectively). The mean bioavailability of oral cyclosporine increased significantly after clamping in 9 patients (from 10.6% to 28.1% by HPLC and from 14.8 to 35.1% by PARIA) but in two patients who developed the vanishing bile duct syndrome values fell to less than 10% and the proportional overestimation of cyclosporine concentrations by PARIA increased. Clamping had no singificant effect on the mean apparent volumes of distribution but values of Vz were approximately twice those of Vss (around 2.6 and 1.31.kg-1 by PARIA and HPLC respectively). Mean half lives after clamping were shorter following oral than intravenous cyclosporine (t 1/2 lambda 2 around 15 h enterally versus 8 h parenterally).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Intracranial and cerebral perfusion pressure changes before, during and immediately after orthotopic liver transplantation for fulminant hepatic failure

Several centres that perform liver transplantation for fulminant hepatic failure have experience of patients who have not regained consciousness despite adequate graft function. In some of these, decerebration because of elevation in intracranial pressure was thought to have occurred intraoperatively or in the early post-operative period. In the present study six patients with fulminant hepatic failure who were transplanted had extradural monitors inserted before operation. Intracranial pressure had been controlled prior to transplantation and rose during the pre-clamp phase of the operation. Levels fell during the anhepatic phase but rose again during the reperfusion phase (p = 0.033). Overall, from the induction of anaesthesia to the reperfusion phase there was a significant increase in mean intracranial pressure (p less than 0.01). The cerebral perfusion pressure fell after induction of anaesthesia from a median 54 mmHg (range 46-62) to a median 35 mmHg (range 19-49, p less than 0.001) in the pre-clamp phase and remained low throughout the operation. During the first 10 hours after transplantation, three patients had further episodes of intracranial hypertension requiring treatment and it is important that monitoring should be continued through this period.

An enzyme immunoassay for detection of IgA class antibodies against hepatitis delta virus

A sensitive and reproducible enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) for IgA class antibodies against the Delta antigen (HDAg) is described. Specificity of the assay was demonstrated by the absence of binding to an unrelated antigen or to uncoated plates and the finding that binding to HDAg was independent of total IgA concentrations in sera. Positive results were obtained with sera from 11 of 14 patients with chronic Delta virus infection (seropositive for HBsAg and IgM anti-HDAg, negative for IgM anti-HBc) at serum dilutions of up to 1:10(6). Sera from four normal healthy individuals and from 25 patients with chronic hepatitis B or other liver disorders who had no evidence of exposure to HDV were all negative in the assay.

Systemic and renal production of thromboxane A2 and prostacyclin in decompensated liver disease and hepatorenal syndrome

To assess the role of altered renal and systemic production of thromboxane A2 and prostacyclin in the hepatorenal syndrome, urinary excretion of their major renal and extrarenal metabolites was measured in patients with compensated and decompensated liver disease, chronic renal failure, and hepatorenal syndrome. Urinary excretion rates of all prostanoids (renal and extrarenal) were increased in subjects with liver disease compared with normal controls. Moreover, they were considerably higher in subjects with severe hepatic decompensation but good renal function compared with those with hepatorenal syndrome. In contrast, the excretion rate of all metabolites was reduced in patients with chronic renal failure. The excretion rate of all metabolites was markedly elevated during the early stages of hepatorenal syndrome and decreased in parallel with creatinine clearance. When corrected for creatinine clearance, there was a strong correlation between prostanoid excretion and serum bilirubin in subjects with liver disease; there was no difference, however, in the excretion of renal and extrarenal prostanoids between hepatorenal syndrome and severe hepatic decompensation. It is concluded that hepatic decompensation is associated with a progressive increase in prostanoid excretion but that changes in production of prostacyclin or thromboxane A2 are unlikely to be major factors in the pathogenesis of the hepatorenal syndrome.

Significance of IgM anti-hepatitis D virus (HDV) in chronic HDV infection

Intrahepatic hepatitis D virus (HDV) antigen (HDAg) and serum HDV RNA are excellent markers of active HDV replication but the relation of IgM anti-HDV to HDV replication and histological activity is less certain. To further elucidate the significance of serum IgM anti-HDV, 90 paired sera and liver biopsies from 64 patients seropositive for total antibody to HDV were analysed for IgM anti-HDV, intrahepatic HDAg expression, and histological inflammatory activity. IgM anti-HDV was strongly associated with intrahepatic HDAg expression with a sensitivity of 94.1% but the assay lacked specificity since 14 out of 22 cases negative for intrahepatic HDAg were also positive for IgM anti-HDV. In 20 patients in whom follow-up biopsies and paired sera were available, two patients lost intrahepatic HDAg but paired serum remained IgM anti-HDV positive. Although the presence of serum IgM anti-HDV correlated significantly with a higher histological inflammatory activity (P = 0.001), there was a considerable overlap with the group seronegative for IgM anti-HDV, again indicating a poor specificity. This lack of specificity of IgM anti-HDV for both HDV replication and histological activity indicates that this assay provides no additional information over and above assay for total antibody to HDV.

Susceptibility to autoimmune chronic active hepatitis: human leukocyte antigens DR4 and A1-B8-DR3 are independent risk factors

After nearly 18 years of research, the association between human leukocyte antigens A1-B8-DR3 and autoimmune chronic active hepatitis still provokes debate. The principal reasons for this are disease heterogeneity and racial variation in the distribution of human leukocyte antigens between populations. The aim of the present study was to reexamine the relationship between these antigens and autoimmune chronic active hepatitis in a well-characterized series of patients. Ninety-six outpatients with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis and an additional 14 referred for liver transplantation with end-stage autoimmune chronic active hepatitis were studied. Human leukocyte antigen frequencies were compared with those of 100 racially and geographically matched controls. The A1-B8-DR3 haplotype was present in 38% of patients compared with 11% of controls (chi 2 = 20.6, p less than 0.0005). When all the DR3-positive patients were eliminated, there was a striking secondary association with DR4; 35 (80%) of 44 remaining patients were DR4 positive compared with 31 (39%) of 79 DR3-negative controls (Fisher's exact probability test p = 0.000031, pc = 0.0013). In addition patients with A1-B8-DR3 are seen at a significantly younger age than those without (39.75 yr vs. 48.21 yr, p less than 0.025), relapse more frequently (52% of patients with A1-B8-DR3 relapsed on one or more occasions compared with 34% of patients without this haplotype) and are more frequently referred for liver transplantation. These data indicate for the first time that two genes within the major histocompatibility complex closely linked to the DR3 and DR4 genes independently confer susceptibility to autoimmune chronic active hepatitis.

Fucosyltransferases: differential plasma and tissue alterations in hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis

To determine whether abnormal metabolism of L-fucose in hepatocellular carcinoma is accompanied by alterations in the activities of fucosyltransferases, the latter were determined in plasma and liver tissue of patients with this disease and in cirrhotic and normal subjects. Activities of alpha-2/alpha-3 and alpha-6-L-fucosyltransferases were all significantly greater in plasma from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma than in plasma from cirrhotic patients or normal subjects (p less than 0.025). The activity of each enzyme was dependent, to a similar extent, on Mn2+, Mg2+ and triton X-10, irrespective of the source, and all displayed pH optimums in the range of 7.5 to 8.0. In contrast, activities of alpha-2/alpha-3 fucosyltransferases were significantly lower (p less than 0.025) in homogenates prepared from tumorous liver tissue than in that prepared from nontumorous tissue from hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhotic patients, whereas for the alpha-6 enzyme the situation was reversed (typically, tumor tissue levels were 5 pmol/hr/mg; in nontumor tissue they were 2 pmol/hr/mg). Activities of galactosyl and mannosyltransferase in tumor tissue were greater in all cases than in nontumor cirrhotic tissue. Plasma fucosyltransferases are specifically elevated in hepatocellular carcinoma but different mechanisms appear to underlie the changes seen for alpha-2/alpha-3 and alpha-6-L-fucosyltransferases.