Fumio Imazeki

..In conclusion, the present data suggest that IFN therapy has a long-term clinical benefit for patients with chronic hepatitis C patients by reducing liver-related death, especially in patients with sustained virologic response...

..The alteration in levels of acetylated histones was closely associated with expression of specific cancer-related genes in hepatoma cells...

..We investigated the predictive factors for alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation, antiviral drug use, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurrence in HBeAg-negative patients...

..8, and 1.4 times, respectively, in HepG2 cells. Substitutions and deletion of nucleotides of the HBV genome, especially the pre-S2 deletion and G1317A and T1341C/A/G mutations may be useful markers for predicting the development of HCC...

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..We therefore analyzed HAV 2B from many patients with various clinical disease severities...

..The alterations in acetylated histones are likely closely associated with gene expression...

..To determine whether amino acid mutations in the core region of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 are associated with response to interferon (IFN) therapy and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)...

..In conclusion, our data suggest that silencing of BCL2L10 by aberrant methylation is a common feature in gastric cancer and its inactivation may be involved in the early steps of gastric carcinogenesis...

..We investigated the status in Japan in a retrospective cohort study...

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..We investigated the prognosis of patients with C-viral chronic liver disease (C-CLD) according to the efficacy of interferon (IFN) therapy in a long-term retrospective cohort study...

..Overexpression of NMES1 in ESCC cell lines increased cell motility. Down-regulation of NMES1 might play an important role in the cell motility of ESCC or be a potent marker of malignancy...

..CONCLUSIONS: The current results demonstrated that 5-AzaC can regulate the expression of groups of genes with characteristic functions...

..The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of interferon or ribavirin treatment on subgenomic HCV RNA replication in 'non-hepatic' HeLa cells...

..Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important etiologic agent for chronic liver diseases...

..The purpose of this study was to establish real-time amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) reverse transcription (RT)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for easy detection of these HCV mutations...

..The administration of a nucleoside analog before transplantation should also be considered in the light of HBV genotypes and mutations, even if HBsAg was negative and the viral load was low before transplantation...

..We compared the effects of lamivudine (LAM) with those of entecavir (ETV) treatments in acute exacerbation of chronic hepatitis B with 500 IU/L or higher alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels...

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..HBeAg might modify disease progression by inhibiting inflammatory cytokine and IFN gene expression, while simultaneously suppressing NF-κB-signaling- and IFNß-promoter activation...

..In this study, we assessed the transcription and status of methylation of NQO1 gene in human hepatoma cells and primary human HCC tissues...

..However, the mechanisms of Hh signaling activation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been fully elucidated. We analyzed the involvement of Hh-interacting protein (HHIP) gene, a negative regulator of Hh signaling, in HCC...

..The results of MSP in hepatoma tissues suggested that some of these genes might be involved in the development or progression of hepatoma...

..In particular, the suppression of BCL2L10, which could induce apoptosis and inhibit proliferation of cancer cells, might be one of the underlying mechanisms for gastric carcinogenesis...

..Use of the combination of these two genotypes could lead to safe and effective treatment of chronic hepatitis C patients...

..The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of being overweight on autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) patients...

..To determine the risk factors for the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection...

..In this study, we investigated whether nucleotide changes in the X gene of genotype C are associated with the development of HCC...

..029) and BMI1 (P = .039) than in their negative counterparts, as determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis. These data indicate that EZH2 and BMI1 may cooperate in initiation and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma...

..CONCLUSION: Our current study showed that a 24-week course of IFN plus ribavirin combination therapy was effective with respect to virologic response in Japanese hepatitis C patients, particularly in patients with HCV genotype 2...

..Together with the result of RT-PCR analysis, the role of aberrant methylation of p14ARF or p15INK4a promoter in hepatocarcinogenesis is thought to be limited...

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..Although the evolution of viral quasi-species may be related to the pathological status of disease, little is known about this phenomenon in hepatitis B, particularly with respect to hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion...

..The current standard treatment for patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) of genotype 2 is the combination of peginterferon (PEG-IFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) for 24 weeks...

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..They might be specifically activated in the induction of oval cells, and help to clarify the nature of stem cell stimulation that occurs during liver regeneration...

..On the other hand, the serum of the patient remained hepatitis B surface antigen positive for more than 1 year after the onset of the hepatitis, which suggested chronicity of HBV infection...

..This whole genome analysis of HBV chronic carriers suggested that the nucleotide substitutions and deletions in HBV were closely associated with the pathogenesis of chronic HBV infection...

..Clinicians should regularly check for the possible development of HCC even in chronic hepatitis C patients under treatment...

..Using high-density SNP arrays, we identified several novel and minute genomic alterations. LOH of four genes could be useful for prediction of lymph node metastasis and prognosis in early stage gastric cancers...

..In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of the early introduction of immunosuppressive therapy in combination with antiviral therapy in such patients...

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..In conclusion, amantadine, in combination of IFN-alpha, might have a beneficial effect in some patients with acute hepatitis A...

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..The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (US) with Sonazoid™ for the assessment of the grade of hepatic fibrosis...

..Initial virological response (IVR) has been reported to be an important factor in relation to the development of ADV-resistance...

..CONCLUSIONS: Our current study indicates that serum OPN levels increased in patients with FHF and that OPN might play an important role in liver regeneration due to activation of hepatic stem cells...

..Polymorphisms of the gene encoding Fas have been linked to a variety of autoimmune diseases. We hypothesized that Fas gene polymorphisms might be genetic markers for AIH and PBC...

..Patients with acute hepatic GVHD need strong immunosuppression to prevent progression to chronic GVHD...

..To examine the feasibility of perflubutane-based ultrasound for grading hepatic fibrosis...

..Based on these results, we propose that, in RSa cells, HuIFN-β-induced miR-431 expression may down-regulate IGF1R and IRS2 expression, and consequently inhibit cell proliferation by suppressing the MAPK pathway...

..The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical course of spontaneous HBsAg seroclearance and the factors predicting it...

..This is the third such case report in the literature...

..In conclusion, HAV 5'NTR subgenotype IA from Korea had relatively high homology to Japanese sequences previously reported from Japan, and this region would be considered one of the antiviral targets. Further studies will be needed...

..5 +/- 0.86)%, respectively. The Bcl-2 siRNA prior to 5-FU treatment group showed the strongest effect of inducing apoptosis. In conclusion, the combination Bcl-2 siRNA and 5-FU might represent a new therapeutic option for HCC...

..Immunoblot analysis revealed that amantadine had no effect on PKR and on IFN-regulatory factor-1 (IRF-1) expression. These findings demonstrated a novel antiviral effect of amantadine against HAV with or without HCV infection...

..Combining IL-29 with IFN-α or amantadine resulted in stronger inhibition of HAV IRES activity. Our findings demonstrated a novel antiviral effect of IFNs-λ against HAV and HCV through the suppression of IRES-mediated translation...

..2.15 compared to HepG2. These results suggest that HBV affects NRs and their related signal transduction, and that they play important roles in viral replication and HBV-related hepatocarcinogenesis...

..We presume that the combination of adoptive immunity transfer by bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from an HBsAb-positive donor and antiviral drugs such as lamivudine is beneficial in clearing HBV in chronic carriers...

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..We presume that hepatic involvement of CAEBV should be considered as differential diagnosis in cases showing liver dysfunction with clinical and biochemical features observed in AIH...

..The aim of this study was to assess the effects of HCV NS5A on apoptosis induced by Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 ligand, lipopolysaccharide (LPS)...

..The prevalence of obesity in acute convalescent hepatitis and fulminant hepatitis has not been reported. The aim of this study was to investigate whether obesity affected the disease severity in Japanese patients with acute hepatitis...

..CONCLUSION: We describe a case of a middle-aged woman who showed a prolonged course of acute hepatitis A mimicking autoimmune hepatitis. Treatment with UDCA proved to be effective...

..Conclusions:  Fujiwara et al. reported a frequency of HAV subgenotype IIIA of only 2.1% in Japan. We conclude that HAV subgenotype IIIA might be widespread in our country...

..Based on these results, we conclude that expression of hsa-miR-373 is down-regulated by aberrant methylation in colon cancer and that this miRNA may function by regulating expression of the oncogene RAB22A...

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..The purpose of the study was to establish methods for determining the SNP rs8099917 associated with IL28B, which might be useful for further research of the treatment of HCV...

..abstract:..

..290-87.42) were the predictive factors for inadequate tissue yield in EUS-FNA. Conclusions. The factors associated with inadequate tissue yield in EUS-FNA were younger age and the location of lesion at lower third area in stomach...

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..0001) and serotype 2 (P < 0.05). Thus, both the COBAS v2.0 assay and the HCV core protein assay showed that the viral load was an indicator of virologically sustained response in serotype 2 and in serotype 1...

..To clarify whether interferon monotherapy is really effective in patients with the appropriate viral parameters, we prospectively examined these parameters and treated the patients with interferon monotherapy...

..His liver function test completely returned to normal on day 260. We believe that it is worthwhile to administer UDCA as an additional treatment for not only common hepatic GVHD but also atypical cases presenting as acute hepatitis...

..Expression vectors with the core region were transfected into Huh7 cells, and cytokine induction was evaluated by reporter assay...

..To examine the possibility of using contrast material-enhanced ultrasonography (US) to differentiate idiopathic portal hypertension (IPH) from cirrhosis...

..Although cirrhosis is a major risk factor for development of hepatocellular carcinoma, no definitive prospective analyses have assessed the long-term efficacy of antiviral therapy in cirrhotic patients...