Risk factors of fibrosis in alcohol-induced liver disease

In patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), age, obesity, and diabetes mellitus are independent predictors of the degree of fibrosis. The relative risk for fibrosis adjusted for sex was also associated with increasing grade of Perls stain. The aim of this study was to determine whether the risk factors for fibrosis described in NASH are also risk factors in alcohol-induced liver disease. A total of 268 alcoholic patients with negative hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus serology underwent liver biopsy. Fibrosis was assessed semiquantitatively by a score fluctuating between 0 to 8. Liver iron overload was assessed by Perls staining and graded in 4 classes. We have used multivariate regression with partial correlation analysis to assess the variability of fibrosis score according to the value of 7 variables: sex, age, body mass index (BMI) in the past year before the hospitalization when the patient was asymptomatic, daily alcohol intake over the past 5 years, total duration of alcohol abuse, Perls grade, and blood glucose level. In the multivariate regression, fibrosis score was positively correlated with age (P =.001), BMI (P =.002), female sex (P <.05), Perls grade (P <.05), and blood glucose level (P <.05). Twenty percent of the variability of fibrosis score was explained by the 7 variables. In conclusion, after adjustment for daily alcohol intake and total duration of alcohol abuse, BMI, Perls grade, and blood glucose are also independent risk factors for fibrosis in alcohol-induced liver disease, raising therapeutic implications for the management of these patients.     

Heart rate reduction through lifestyle modification: reply

We thank Drs Michalsen and Dobos for their comments. Restingheart rate is indeed a strong predictor of mortality in patientswith coronary artery disease.¹     

Chemokines and Antimicrobial Peptides Have a cag-Dependent Early Response to Helicobacter pylori Infection in Primary Human Gastric Epithelial Cells

Helicobacter pylori infection systematically causes chronic gastric inflammation that can persist asymptomatically or evolve toward more severe gastroduodenal pathologies, such as ulcer, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, and gastric cancer. The cag pathogenicity island (cag PAI) of H. pylori allows translocation of the virulence protein CagA and fragments of peptidoglycan into host cells, thereby inducing production of chemokines, cytokines, and antimicrobial peptides. In order to characterize the inflammatory response to H. pylori, a new experimental protocol for isolating and culturing primary human gastric epithelial cells was established using pieces of stomach from patients who had undergone sleeve gastrectomy. Isolated cells expressed markers indicating that they were mucin-secreting epithelial cells. Challenge of primary epithelial cells with H. pylori B128 underscored early dose-dependent induction of expression of mRNAs of the inflammatory mediators CXCL1 to -3, CXCL5, CXCL8, CCL20, BD2, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). In AGS cells, significant expression of only CXCL5 and CXCL8 was observed following infection, suggesting that these cells were less reactive than primary epithelial cells. Infection of both cellular models with H. pylori B128ΔcagM, a cag PAI mutant, resulted in weak inflammatory-mediator mRNA induction. At 24 h after infection of primary epithelial cells with H. pylori, inflammatory-mediator production was largely due to cag PAI substrate-independent virulence factors. Thus, H. pylori cag PAI substrate appears to be involved in eliciting an epithelial response during the early phases of infection. Afterwards, other virulence factors of the bacterium take over in development of the inflammatory response. Using a relevant cellular model, this study provides new information on the modulation of inflammation during H. pylori infection.