Platelet count as a screening tool for compensated cirrhosis in chronic viral hepatitis

Impact of Thrombocytopenia on Survival in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Updated Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Platelets (PLT) have a role in the pathogenesis, progression, and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and could represent a readily measurable laboratory parameter to enhance the comprehensive evaluation of HCC patients.

METHODS

The PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched with a focus on survival as well as patient and tumor-specific characteristics in correlation to reported PLT counts. Survival outcomes were analyzed with both common-effect and random-effects models. The hazard ratio (HR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) from analyzed trials were incorporated. Studies that did not provide survival data but focused on platelet count correlation with HCC characteristics were reviewed.

RESULTS

In total, 26 studies, including a total of 9403 patients, met our criteria. The results showed that thrombocytopenia in HCC patients was associated with poor overall survival (common-effect HR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.06-1.25; random-effect HR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.05-1.63). Moreover, three studies reveal significant correlations between PLT indices and tumor characteristics such as size, foci number, and etiology of HCC development.

CONCLUSION

Our meta-analysis confirmed that PLT count could act as a prognostic marker in HCC, especially with a PLT count cut off <100 × 103/mm3. Further prospective studies focusing on the role of PLT in clearly defined subgroups are necessary.

The correlation of ADMA with proinflammatory, liver injury and cancer biomarkers in patients with liver dysfunction

Background and Aim

Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is an enzyme involved in vascular tone, blood pressure, and platelet activation. Serum ADMA levels are increased in liver diseases such as liver cirrhosis, hepatitis, and acute liver failure. The aim of our study was to assess the correlation of ADMA with proinflammatory, liver injury, and cancer biomarkers in patients with liver dysfunction of various etiologies.

Materials and Methods

We analyzed the demographic and clinical data, including serum ADMA concentration and other biochemical markers such as albumin, platelet count, international normalized ratio, bilirubin, and others in patients with hepatitis, compensated and decompensated liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The one-way ANOVA, Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, univariate, and multivariate correlations were performed, and a p-value <0.05 was set as significant.

Results

In n=83 analyzed patients, we observed a negative correlation of ADMA with albumin concentration (p=0.049). We found a negative correlation between ADMA and platelet count in n=31 patients with compensated liver cirrhosis (p=0.022). We observed no significant correlations of ADMA with proinflammatory and cancer biomarkers in patients with hepatitis, compensated and decompensated liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Conclusion

ADMA can potentially be used as a subsidiary marker of disease progression in patients with liver dysfunction. Our research suggests that ADMA cannot be useful in detecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

The role of platelets in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: From pathophysiology to therapeutics

Platelets are one of the key mediators in thrombosis as well as in the progression of many diseases. An increase in platelet activation and a decrease in platelet count is associated with a plethora of liver diseases. In non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), platelets are highly activated and participate in the disease progression by enhancing the pro-thrombotic and pro-inflammatory state. Some altered platelet parameters such as mean platelet volume, plateletcrits, and platelet distribution width, aspartate transaminase to platelet ratio index, liver stiffness to platelet ratio and red cell distribution width to platelet ratio were found to be associated with NAFLD disease. Further, platelet contributes to the progression of cardiovascular complications in NAFLD is gaining the researcher's attention. An elevated mean platelet volume is known to enhance the risk of stroke, atherosclerosis, thrombosis, and myocardial infarction in NAFLD. Evidence also suggested that modulation in platelet function using aspirin, ticlopidine, and cilostazol help in controlling the NAFLD progression. Future research should focus on antiplatelet therapy as a treatment strategy that can control platelet activation in NAFLD as well as its cardiovascular risk. In the present review, we have detailed the role of platelets in NAFLD and its cardiovascular complications. We further aimed to highlight the growing need for antiplatelet therapy in NAFLD.

Hepatitis delta: Epidemiology to recent advances in therapeutic agents

Hepatitis D virus (HDV) was first described in 1977 and is dependent on the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) for its entry into cells and on the human host for replication. Due to the envelopment with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) envelope, early phases of HDV entry resemble HBV infection. Unlike HBV, HDV activates innate immune responses. The global prevalence of HDV is estimated to be about 5% of HBsAg positive individuals. However, recent studies have described a wide range of prevalence between 12 to 72 million individuals. Infection can occur as super-infection or co-infection. The diagnosis of active HDV infection involves screening with anti HDV antibodies followed by quantitative PCR testing for HDV RNA in those who are HBsAg positive. The diagnostic studies have evolved over the years improving the validity and reliability of the tests performed. HDV infection is considered the most severe form of viral hepatitis and the HDV genotype may influence the disease course. There are eight major HDV genotypes with prevalence varying by geographic region. HDV treatment has been challenging as HDV strongly depends on the host cell for replication and provides few, if any viral targets. Better understanding of HDV virology has led to the development of several therapeutic agents currently being studied in different phase II and III clinical trials. There is increasing promise of effective therapies that will ameliorate the course of this devastating disease.

Diagnosis of HDV: From virology to non-invasive markers of fibrosis

Hepatitis D viral infection in humans is a disease that requires the establishment of hepatitis B, relying on hepatitis B surface Ag and host cellular machinery to replicate and propagate the infection. Since its discovery in 1977, substantial progress has been made to better understand the hepatitis D viral life cycle, pathogenesis and modes of transmission along with expanding on clinical knowledge related to prevention, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment. The availability of serologic diagnostic assays for hepatitis D infection has evolved over time with current widespread availability, improved detection and standardized reporting. With human migration, the epidemiology of hepatitis D infection has changed over time. Thus, the ability to use diagnostic assays remains essential to monitor the global impact of hepatitis D infection. Separately, while liver biopsy remains the gold standard for the staging of this rapidly progressive and severe form of chronic viral hepatitis, there is an unmet need for clinical monitoring of chronic hepatitis D infection for management of progressive disease. Thus, exploration of the utility of non-invasive fibrosis markers in hepatitis D is ongoing. In this review, we discuss the virology, the evolution of diagnostics and the development of non-invasive markers for the detection and monitoring of fibrosis in patients with hepatitis D infection.

Shear wave elastography: How well does it perform in chronic hepatitis D virus infection?

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection is associated with accelerated progression of liver disease to cirrhosis. Shear wave elastography (SWE) is a non-invasive evaluation method of liver fibrosis. Its performance in accurately characterizing HDV fibrosis compared to other noninvasive markers remains unknown. We assessed the performance of SWE in patients with chronic HDV, Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) infection. Cirrhosis was determined by histology or clinical data. Area under receiver operator characteristics (AUROC) was used to assess diagnostic performance in identifying cirrhosis by SWE in comparison with Fibroscan® (VCTE) and serologic tests of fibrosis. 158 patients with chronic hepatitis (HDV:44%, HBV: 46% and HCV: 29%) were evaluated. Cirrhosis was diagnosed in 28 (17.7%) patients. Mean noninvasive fibrosis measurements for the HBV/HCV and HDV groups, respectively, were as follows: APRI: 0.73 ± 1.08 and 1.3 ± 1.38; FIB-4: 1.90 ± 2.24 and 2.33 ± 2.24; VCTE: 8.9 ± 6.7 kPa vs 10.4 ± 5.3 kPa; SWE: 1.5 ± 0.2 m/s and 1.6 ± 0.2 m/s. The performance of SWE in detecting HDV-induced cirrhosis (AUROC 0.84, 95% CI 0.71-0.97) was slightly lower than in HBV/HCV induced disease (AUROC 0.88, 95% CI 0.81-0.96). For HDV patients, the performance of SWE was comparable to VCTE and slightly better than APRI and FIB-4 especially in APRI and FIB-4 indeterminate zones. The overall less accurate performance of noninvasive markers in HDV in comparison with HBV and HCV may be a result of significant hepatic inflammation in HDV.

Hepatomusculoskeletal disorders: Coining a new term might improve the management of the musculoskeletal manifestations of chronic liver disease

Chronic liver disease can affect many body systems including the musculoskeletal system. The pathogenetic crosstalk between the liver and organs such as the brain and the kidneys has already been described with compound terms merging the organs affected by the pathology, such as the hepatorenal syndrome. Nevertheless, the musculoskeletal manifestations of chronic liver disease have not been coined with such a term to date. Because of this shortage, documenting the musculoskeletal implications of chronic liver disease in both research and clinical practice is challenging. To fill this gap, the authors propose the term hepatomusculoskeletal disorders, a compound term of Greek origin that encompasses all the body structures involved in the aforementioned pathologic crosstalk.

Risk factors of hepatocellular carcinoma in type 2 diabetes patients: A two-centre study in a developing country

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is increasingly known as a risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, we determined the risk factors associated with HCC in T2DM patients. This was a matched case-control study conducted at two hepatobiliary referral centres in a developing country. Patients' sociodemographic, clinical, and biochemical characteristics between 1 January 2012 and 30 June 2018 were extracted from the electronic medical records and analysed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. A total of 212 case-control pairs were included. Significant risk factors included Chinese and Malay ethnicities that interacted with viral hepatitis (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 11.77, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.39-99.79) and (AOR = 37.94, 95% CI: 3.92-367.61) respectively, weight loss (AOR = 5.28, 95% CI: 2.29-12.19), abdominal pain/ discomfort (AOR = 6.73, 95% CI: 3.34-13.34), alcohol (AOR = 4.08, 95% CI: 1.81-9.22), fatty liver (AOR = 3.29, 95% CI: 1.40-7.76), low platelet (AOR = 4.03, 95% CI:1.90-8.55), raised alanine transaminase (AOR = 2.11, 95% CI: 1.16-3.86). and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels (AOR = 2.17, 95% CI: 1.17-4.00). Statins reduced the risk of HCC by 63% (AOR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.21-0.65). The identification of these factors aids the risk stratification for HCC among T2DM patients for early detection and decision-making in patient management in the primary care setting.