Hepatitis C virus infection and risk of osteoporotic fracture: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Association of chronic liver disease with bone diseases and muscle weakness

The liver is a vital organ involved in nutrient metabolism, hormone regulation, immunity, cytokine production, and gut homeostasis. Impairment in liver function can result in malnutrition, chronic inflammation, decreased anabolic hormone levels, and dysbiosis. These conditions eventually cause an imbalance in osteoblast and osteoclast activities, resulting in bone loss. Osteoporosis is a frequent complication of chronic liver disease (CLD) that adversely affects quality of life and increases early mortality. Sarcopenia is another common complication of CLD characterized by progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and function. Assessment criteria for sarcopenia specific to liver disease have been established, and sarcopenia has been reported to be associated with an increase in the risk of liver disease-related events and mortality in patients with CLD. Owing to their similar risk factors and underlying pathophysiological mechanisms, osteoporosis and sarcopenia often coexist (termed osteosarcopenia), progress in parallel, and further exacerbate the conditions mentioned above. Therefore, comprehensive management of these musculoskeletal disorders is imperative. This review summarizes the clinical implications and characteristics of osteoporosis, extending to sarcopenia and osteosarcopenia, in patients with CLD caused by different etiologies.

Bone status and HCV infection in thalassemia major patients

PURPOSE

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection increases the risk for osteoporosis but this relationship has not been investigated among multi-transfused patients with thalassemia major (TM). We cross-sectionally explored the association of HCV infection with bone mineral density (BMD), vitamin D, and bone turnover biomarkers in TM.

METHODS

We considered 130 TM patients (41.89 ± 5.49 years, 67 females) enrolled in the E-MIOT (Extension-Myocardial Iron Overload in Thalassemia) Network. BMD measurements taken at the lumbar spine, femoral neck and total hip were expressed as Z-scores, with a BMD Z-score ≤ -2.0 indicating low bone mass.

RESULTS

Z-scores were not associated with gender, iron overload indices, vitamin D levels, and biochemical bone turnover markers, but decreased with aging and in presence of hypogonadism and were directly correlated with body mass index (BMI). The prevalence of low bone mass was 70.7 %. Three groups of patients were identified: 78 who never contracted the infection (group 0), 72 who cleared HCV (group 1), and 29 with chronic HCV infection (CHC) (group 2). All Z-scores progressively decreased according to HCV status from group 0 to group 2. Osteocalcin levels were significantly lower in groups 2 and 1 than in group 0. CHC patients were more likely to have low bone mass compared to HCV naive patients, after adjusting for age, BMI, hypogonadism, and pancreatic iron.

CONCLUSION

In TM, CHC appears as one additive risk factor for low bone mass and osteocalcin may play a role in this association.

Association of CD14 gene -260C>T and -561C>T polymorphisms with cancer susceptibility: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Two polymorphisms, -260C>T (rs2569190) and -561C>T (rs5744455), in the CD14 gene have been implicated in susceptibility to cancer. However, the results remain inconclusive. The current meta-analysis was carried out aiming to confirm the function of these two polymorphisms on the susceptibility of cancer.

METHODS

We collected eligible studies from databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP (Weipu). We used logistic regression calculation to compute odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS

After strict selection, 24 studies with 5854 cases and 10339 controls for -260C>T and seven studies with 1809 cases and 7289 controls for -561C>T were finally enlisted into our analysis reference material. Pool results revealed that neither -260C>T, nor -561C>T was found to have any association with overall cancer susceptibility. Nevertheless, when stratified by cancer type, we detected a decreased risk associated with other cancers in a heterozygous model (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.51-0.93, p = 0.014) and a dominant model (OR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.53-0.93, p = 0.012) for -561C>T. An increased risk was found in other cancers under an allele model (OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.03-1.62, p = 0.026), in laryngeal cancer under a dominant model (OR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.11-1.71, p = 0.003) and for a score ≤ 9 under a recessive model (OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.09-1.91, p = 0.009) for -561C>T.

CONCLUSIONS

In the present study, we conclude that the CD14 -260C>T and -561C>T polymorphisms might not be associated with overall cancer risk. Further studies are encouraged to confirm this conclusion.

Safety and efficacy of risedronate for patients with esophageal varices and liver cirrhosis: a non-randomized clinical trial

Despite the high prevalence of osteoporosis in liver cirrhosis, the indication of bisphosphonates for patients with esophageal varices has been avoided due to risk of digestive mucosal damage. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the safety profile of risedronate treatment for patients with osteoporosis, liver cirrhosis and esophageal varices with low risk of bleeding. A total of 120 patients were allocated into two groups according to their bone mineral density measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. In the intervention group, 57 subjects with osteoporosis received oral risedronate at 35 mg weekly plus daily calcium and vitamin D supplementation. In the control group, 63 subjects with osteopenia received only calcium and vitamin D. The groups received the treatment for one year and underwent surveillance endoscopies at six and 12 months, as well as a control dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry after a 12-month follow-up. The study received Institutional Review Board approval. The groups had not only comparable Model for End-stage Liver Disease score and esophageal varices degree, but also similar incidence of digestive adverse effects. A significant improvement was achieved in the intervention group in the lumbar spine T score (p < 0.001). The results suggest that risedronate may be safely used in liver cirrhosis and esophageal varices with low bleeding risk under endoscopic surveillance, thus allowing bone mass recovery.

Prognostic and Clinicopathological Significance of Long Non-coding RNA PANDAR Expression in Cancer Patients: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Long non-coding RNA PANDAR is an emerging non-coding RNA mapping to 6p21.2. It underlies metastatic progression and chromosomal instability in a variety of cancers. Despite the fact that recent studies have revealed that lncRNA PANDAR may be a potential prognostic biomarker for patients with cancer, there has still been controversy on the prognostic value of PANDAR. Methods: Databases of PubMed, Embase, SinoMed, and Web of Science were carefully searched and the literature which investigated the prognostic value of PANDAR expression among human cancers was collected for further analysis. Odds ratios (ORs) or hazards ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled to estimate the relation between PANDAR expression and survival or clinicopathological characteristics of cancer patients. Results: There were 13 eligible studies in total, with 1,465 patients enlisted in this meta-analysis. All the eligible studies complied with the case-control study. The outcome showed that the elevated expression level of PANDAR was significantly related to poor overall survival (OS) (pooled HR 1.72, 95%CI 1.14-2.60). However, high or low expression of PANDAR did not differ in the prediction of event-free survival (EFS). Moreover, we discovered that high PANDAR expression was closely related to decreased OS in colorectal cancer (pooled HR 3.43, 95%CI 2.06-5.72) and reduced expression level of PANDAR was markedly related to poor OS (pooled HR 0.65, 95%CI 0.45-0.88) in non-small cell lung cancer. However, the expression level of PANDAR had no significant association with OS in renal cell carcinoma (pooled HR 1.19, 95%CI 0.56-2.50). Moreover, after analysis, we discovered that the high expression level of PANDAR was associated closely with the depth of invasion (pooled OR 3.95, 95%CI 2.36-6.63), lymph node metastasis (pooled OR 1.92, 95%CI 0.93-3.98), tumor stage (pooled OR 2.05, 95%CI 0.99-4.27), and distant metastasis (pooled OR 2.87, 95%CI 1.60-5.16). Conclusions: Our study revealed that increased PANDAR expression may serve as an adverse prognostic biomarker for cancer patients, thus helping the clinical decision-making process.