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Biomedical subjects

S Benzaken

Publications and source records attributed to S Benzaken.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

Significance of serum immunoglobulin M to hepatitis C virus core in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

OBJECTIVES: Anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) IgM antibodies were found in patients with both acute and chronic hepatitis C. The aims of this study were to determine the significance, in terms of liver disease, virological parameters, and response to interferon therapy, of IgM antibody to hepatitis C virus core protein (IgM anti-HCV-core) in the serum of patients with chronic hepatitis C. METHODS: The presence of IgM anti-HCVcore was investigated in 42 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Tests for IgM anti-HCVcore was carried out before interferon therapy. The patients received 3 MU of interferon-alpha three times weekly for 6 months. A response to interferon therapy was defined as normal transaminase activity and negative viremia at the end of treatment (month 6: response), and a sustained response was defined as normal ALT values and negative viremia for 6 months after completion of therapy. RESULTS: Sixteen patients (38%) displayed IgM anti-HCVcore. The mean Knodell score of the IgM anti-HCVcore-positive patients was significantly higher than that of the IgM anti-HCVcore-negative patients (11.5 +/- 3.4 vs. 9.1 +/- 3.1, p = 0.04), and the occurrence of IgM anti-HCVcore tended to be associated with serotype 1 virus (p = 0.08). Finally, a significantly higher percentage of responders to interferon at the end of therapy were IgM anti-HCVcore negative (p = 0.04), and only one patient with a ratio of sample to cutoff over 2.0 responded to interferon. CONCLUSIONS: IgM anti-HCVcore appears to be a simple serological marker of more severe liver disease in patients with chronic hepatitis C and may have relevance to the outcome of antiviral therapy.

Antiviral Agents↗
PubMed1996

Effects of cyclic enteral nutrition on the immunological status of malnourished patients.

The effects of 2 weeks of refeeding by cyclic enteral nutrition on chronically malnourished (mean global nutritional deficiency 19.9 +/- 1.1%) hospitalized patients were assessed in a prospective study with special attention paid to immunological status. All patients were immunodeficient, with cell-mediated immunity being more affected than humoral immunity. After 2 weeks of refeeding, nutritional status had improved by 29.8%. Initially abnormal parameters of humoral immunity (IgM, C3 and C4) improved significantly (P < 0.05) between day 0 and day 15. The following cell-mediated immunity parameters also improved significantly (P < 0.05): CD8, monocyte count, natural killer cell activity and skin tests. Short-term refeeding by cyclic enteral nutrition appears to be a safe and effective way of improving immunodeficiency in chronically malnourished patients, with predictable consequences on infection.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1995

[Anti-thyroid autoantibodies in hepatitis C. Thyroid function after interferon therapy in 4 patients].

Four female patients had chronic hepatitis C associated with antithyroid autoantibodies. Hepatitis C virus infection was evidenced by liver biopsy and a positive-four-antigen recombinant immunoblot assay. All four patients were euthyroid before interferon therapy. Recombinant interferon alpha was given at a dose of 3 millions units three times a week for 6 months. At the end of the treatment, serum aminotransferase levels were within the normal range. Two patients progressed to hypothyroidism and 2 patients remained euthyroid. One year after the end of the treatment, only one patient had hypothyroidism and another had normal serum aminotransferase levels. These case-reports suggest that interferon administration may induce thyroid dysfunction in patients with antithyroid autoantibodies at the beginning of treatment. Thyroid dysfunction may be reversed when cytokine is withdrawn.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Anti-GOR and anti-thyroid autoantibodies in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Anti-thyroid autoantibodies have been described in anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive patients. It has been suggested that the anti-GOR response is closely related to HCV infection and may reflect an HCV-associated autoimmune phenomenon. This study was designed to evaluate the humoral anti-GOR response in anti-HCV-positive patients with anti-thyroid autoantibodies (group 1, 22 patients) and to compare it with the response in anti-HCV-positive patients without anti-thyroid autoantibodies (group 2, 44 patients) and in anti-HCV-negative patients with autoimmune thyroiditis (group 3, 28 patients). The prevalences of anti-GOR in groups 1, 2, and 3 were, respectively, 72.7, 61.3, and 3.5%. Anti-GOR levels were higher in group 1 than in group 2 or group 3 (P = 0.0001). Moreover, comparison of the Anti-GOR levels of groups 1 and 2 also revealed a statistically significant difference (P = 0.008). Detection of more elevated anti-GOR levels in group 1 patients suggests that anti-thyroid autoantibodies in anti-HCV-positive patients may be related to HCV.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

High prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies in a prospective series of patients with chronic hepatitis C before interferon therapy.

After describing two cases of Hashimoto's thyroiditis associated with chronic hepatitis C, we set up a prospective study to assess the prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies (thyroglobulin and thyroid microsomal autoantibodies) in 72 chronic hepatitis C patients (43 men and 29 women; mean age = 51 +/- 2.1 yr) before interferon therapy admitted between January and December 1991 to our liver unit. Thyroid autoantibodies were systematically assayed in 60 chronic HBsAg-positive patients (34 men and 26 women; mean age = 50 +/- 2.2 yr), who served as controls. Antibody to hepatitis C virus was detected with a second-generation enzyme immunoassay and then confirmed with a recombinant immunoblot assay and a supplemental enzyme immunoassay using two beads. In chronic hepatitis C patients, no men had thyroid autoantibodies. Nine of 29 women (31%) had thyroid autoantibodies. Among them, six (20.7%) had high titers of thyroid autoantibodies, and two had hypothyroidism. In all nine of these women, hepatitis C virus viremia was detected on nested polymerase chain reaction (with primers located in the 5' untranslated region). One year later, titers of thyroid autoantibodies had increased in one patient. Three other patients progressed to hypothyroidism. We judged four of 29 patients (13.8%) to have Hashimoto's thyroiditis on the basis of their high titers of thyroid autoantibodies and biological features of hypothyroidism. In the control group, only one man had thyroid microsome autoantibodies, at a very low titer (1:100). The association between chronic hepatitis C and presence of thyroid autoantibodies is clearly confirmed (p = 0.021) by this study.

Autoantibodies↗
PubMed1985

HLA in families with Down's syndrome children.

Thirty couples having a DS child were typed for HLA-A and B antigens and compared to twenty control families and 176 blood donors. Although differences in frequency of B antigens exist between DS families and controls, they are not significant after correction for the number of antigens tested. No excessive HLA sharing was found in DS parents contrarily to two previous studies (Mattironi et al. 1981, Aymé et al. 1983).

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Non invasive prediction of severe fibrosis in patients with alcoholic liver disease.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of noninvasive markers of liver fibrosis in alcoholic liver disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-four clinical and biochemical parameters including serum fibrosis markers (hyaluronate and transforming growth factor beta1) were analyzed in 146 consecutive heavy drinkers (106 men, 40 women; mean age 49.2 years). Following liver biopsy, fibrosis was evaluated using a semi-quantitative scoring system (no fibrosis (0) to severe fibrosis (3 + )). Multivariate analysis was performed to determine the markers that were best correlated with the fibrosis score. RESULTS: Fifty-nine patients (40.4 %) had severe fibrosis (3 +) while 87 (59.6 %) had no fibrosis or moderate fibrosis (0 to 2 +). In multivariate analysis, serum hyaluronate and the prothrombin index were the best markers for the prediction of severe fibrosis. Hyaluronate and the prothrombin index had a diagnostic accuracy of 91.1 % and 89.7 %, respectively in the whole population. Finally, a significant negative correlation was found between hyaluronate and the prothrombin index (r =- 0.86, P <0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Using only hyaluronate and the prothrombin index, 9 out of 10 alcoholic patients can be correctly classified according to the severity of liver fibrosis.

Adult↗