• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3175-3176
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• 2013

Patient records from the Guam Cancer Registry were compared with patients listed in a health department viral hepatitis case registry and the numbers of liver cancer and viral hepatitis cases were compared by ethnicity. Hepatitis C was the form of viral hepatitis most common among liver cancer cases on Guam (63.3% of viral hepatitis-associated liver cancer cases). Since viral hepatitis is an important cause of liver cancer, studies such as the present one may provide the information necessary to establish programs (screening of populations at risk and infant vaccination in the case of hepatitis B, for example) that may lessen the impact of liver cancer in the future.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.43-54
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• 2013

Viral hepatitis is the inflammation of liver cells caused by viruses, and still one of the major health-care problems worldwide. A number of viruses to cause hepatitis are type A, B, C, D, E or G. Among these viruses leading to hepatitis, B and C are more troublesome being more prone to chronic illness which can cause the potentially fatal conditions of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and/or liver failure. If immediate treatment is not initiated, liver transplant is the only option left. Over the past few decades there has been remarkable progress in diagnose and monitor all hepatitis virus infections for treatment and prevention. Nonetheless, important challenges remain to develop more effective and safe vaccines for prevention as well as antiviral agents to reduce viremia/viral load by inhibiting viral replication. The development and evaluation of antiviral agents through carefully designed clinical trials over the last 25 years has heralded a new dawn in the treatment of patients chronically infected with the hepatitis B and C viruses, but not so for the D virus. The introduction of Direct Acting Antivirals (DDAs) for the treatment of HBV carriers has permitted the long term use of these compounds for the continuous suppression of viral replication. This review aims to summarize the current status and development approaches of antiviral drugs for the treatment of viral hepatitis and future perspectives.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.371-377
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• 1988

In order to know the effect of dexamethasone on the induction of the rabbit viral hepatitis, the pathological changes were observed in the native rabbits, 2 to 6 months old in age, that were injected by dexamethasone and liver emulsion of Angora rabbit naturally infected with viral hepatitis. The results were summarized as follows: The native rabbits injected by dexamethasone and liver emulsion were infected with viral hepatitis and died between 2 and 7 days after inoculation. Clinical signs and gross lesions were very similar to those of Angora rabbit naturally occurred, In microscopical findings, the hepatic lesions were characterized by peripheral necrosis of the lobules, and peripheral necrosis of the lobules with fatty changes of hepatic cells was occurred in a few cases. Perivascular lymphocytic infiltration in the central nervous system was observed in some cases, The lesions of the other organs were very similar to those of Angora rabbit naturally occurred. On the other hand, the native rabbits that were injected by only liver emulsion of Angora rabbit naturally infected with viral hepatitis were not infected with the disease except very few cases.

• BMB Reports
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.138-143
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• 2003

Of many viral causes of human cancer, few are of greater global importance than the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Over 250 million people worldwide are persistently infected with HBV. A significant minority of these develop severe pathologic consequences, including chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Earlier epidemiological evidence suggested a link between chronic HBV infection and HCC. Further, the existence of related animal viruses that induce acute and chronic infections of the liver, and eventually HCC, confirms the concept that HBV belongs to one of the few human oncogenic viruses. Although it is clear that chronic HBV infections are major risk factors, relatively little is understood about how the viral factors contribute to hepatocarcinogenesis. This review will introduce molecular aspects of the viral infection, and highlight recent findings on the viral contribution to hepatocarcinogenesis.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.531-540
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• 1989

A new sudden death in rabbits appeared in China and Korea in 1984 and 1985, respectively, and was recognized to be an acute infectious disease caused by a virus. The disease was reported as a "new viral disease," and thereafter, a tentative name of "viral hemorrhagic disease", "hemorrhagic pneumonia" or "viral hemorrhagic pneumonia" has been described in the case reports. But authors had called the viral disease "rabbit viral hepatitis" due to picornavirus infection, because the principal lesion of the disease was an acute hepatitis. The purpose of this report is to describe the electron microscopic findings on the livers in experimentally infected rabbits. All the livers of the affected rabbits were shown to have degenerative changes of a type that is characteristic of acute hepatitis. In the liver cells, there were dilation of rER and mitochondria, vacuole formation of various sizes, and appearances of many virus-like particles in the vicinity of rER, granular bodies and crystalline arrays of viral particles in the cytoplasm with necrotic changes of the nucleus. Clusters of virus-like particles and viral crystals appeared in the cytoplasm of sinusoid endothelial cells and Kupffer's cells with morphological changes of organelles. Also viral crystals were demonstrated in the cytoplasm of macrophages among the liver cells. On the whole, the liver cells had many virus-like particles and a few crystalline arrays of viral particles. Therefore, this implies that the liver cells are the main site of the viral replication in inducing the viremia. It was concluded that the liver was the primary target organ of this viral disease, and the pathological and the ultrastructural evidence suggest that the virus may be belong to genus enterovirus.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2002

Hepatitis B viral infection which affect about 10% of Korean population manifests asymptomatic carrier, chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis and even associates with hepatocellular carcinoma. Clinical manifestations induced by hepatitis B virus vary depending on the degree of immune response by cytotoxic T cells against viral epitope-presenting liver cells. Since hepatitis B virus presents high rate of mutaton that might change the presented epitope and eventually alter immune response, viral mutations, especially in promoters and enhancers, have an important implication in hepatic inflammation and viral replication. To identify mutations related to the hepatic inflammation, we investigated sequence variations of hepatitis B viral promotor regions in the presence or absence of symptoms in hepatitis B carriers. For this, sera from persistently hepatitis B virus-infected mother-child pairs were collected. After PCR amplifiation of all hepatitis B viral promoters (C promoter, S1 promoter, S2/S promoter, X promoter) using serum DNA from each pair, viral promotors were sequenced by automatic sequencer and then sequence data were analyzed by ClustalW. In most cases, the dominant type of maternal virus was transmitted to the child. However, in some children, some new host specific viral variants could be observed in Cp, S1p and S2/Sp. The mutations in C promoter did not seem to be vertically transmitted but arose in new host independently after the wild type had been transmitted. Enhancer I containing X promoter revealed high host specific variations as has been reported before. Two S promoters, S1p and S2/Sp, have shown some point mutations in children, but no deletion mutations were detected as in chronic hepatitis patients in whom deletion mutations are frequently found. In conclusion, the children with the vertically transmitted hepatitis B virus mostly retain the dominant type virus that had been transmitted. However, host specific variants tended to accumulate over time, possibly as clinical symptoms develop.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.399-402
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• 1992

The causative virus causing rabbit hepatitis has been further characterized by evaluating viral proteins and viral nucleic acids of purified viruses from the liver of the experimentally infected rabbits. Rabbit hepatitis virus has one major structural protein of 54 kilodaltons and some minor proteins. Vrial RNA was resistant to DNAse I. The size of viral nucleic acid of this virus was calculated to be about 7.5 kilobases. These findings indicate that rabbit hepatitis virus belongs to the family Caliciviridae.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 1998

We investigated the rate of hepatitis G virus infection among 50 patients who were not infected with the hepatitis C virus but showed symptoms of hepatitis. Viral RNA was extracted from the patients' sera and cDNA was synthesized and amplified by RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) using random hexamer and 5 primers (470-20-1-77F, 470-20-1-211R, 470-20-1-211R-biotin, GV57-4512MF, GV57-4657MR). The amplified PCR products were confirmed by electrochemiluminescence (ECL), liquid hybridization (LH) and Southern blotting (SB). Among the 50 PCR products, by means of ECL, we found 4 samples to be positive and 5 samples to be indeterminate. The GV45-89M probe (5'-CYCGCTGRTITGGGGTGTACfGGAAGGC-3') was end-labelled with gamma-$^{32}P$ ATP and used for liquid hybridization with the PCR products. By using liquid hybridization, we detected specific bands from 4 positive sera and also from one indeterminate serum as determined by ECL. An 1.5% agarose gel electrophoresis of the 9 PCR products which were HGV positive or indeterminate as determined by ECL showed a 160bp band from 4 positive and one indeterminate serum. The 5 PCR products proved to be positive when SB was applied with the GV45-89M probe as well as when LH was applied. LH and SB were shown to have higher sensitivity and specificity than ECL. Two cases among 5 positive cases had relatively high SGOT, SGPT, ALP values when compared with other 48 cases. In summary, we confirmed hepatitis G virus infection in 5 cases among 50 Korean patients showing symptoms of viral hepatitis.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.114-121
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• 2015

More and more patients suffering from hepatitis A, the number of patients representing symptoms that are uncharacteristic to hepatitis A is also increasing. There are occasions of serious complications among adult hepatitis A patients that can cause fulminant hepatitis or cirrhosis which can be fatal. A 43-year-old male was diagnosed as acute hepatitis A and was treated at a Western hospital over the course of three months, which included two months of hospitalization. However, his symptoms did not improve, so he was admitted to Oriental hospital. We prescribed Chunggan extract (CGX) four times a day. Acupuncture was performed twice a day. From the twenty-fourth day of admission, the total bilirubin fell under 10 mg/dL for the first time and next day he was discharged. Following his discharge, he consistently took CGX three times a day. 21 days after discharge all of his symptoms disappeared. This study demonstrated that traditional Korean medicine (TKM) for acute viral hepatitis with cholestatic hepatitis might be effective and safe with no adverse effects.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 1998

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to determine correlation between coping strategies to disease and quality of life in chrome viral B hepatitis patients ; to investigate difference of coping strategies to disease and quality in life between chronic viral B hepatitis patients and normal persons ; and to identify major variables related to quality in life of chronic viral B hepatitis patients. Methods: The authors used Weisman coping strategy scale for measuring coping ability and efficacies, and the questionnaire for measuring quality of life including physical, psychological, social and economical aspects and satisfaction of sexual life was made by authors based on related literatures. Data were collected through questionnaire survey over a period from Sep 15, 1994 to Nov 11, 1994. Subjects served for this study consisted of 94 chronic viral B hepatitis patients visited to department of internal medicine at one general hospital and 100 normal persons visited to one general hospital for routine check up of health. The collected data were analyzed by SAS and the statistical methods for analysis were Chisquare, t-test and multiple regression analysis. Results : 1) It was revealed that coping strategies to disease significantly correlated to individual's quality of life. 2) There was no significant difference in coping strategies to disease between chronic viral B hepatitis patients and normal persons. However, chronic viral B hepatitis patients showed the lower scroes of quality of life in physical, psychological and economical aspects. 3) The most important variables which were influenced upon quality of life were coping strategies to disease and satisfaction of sexual life. That is, the more active coping strategies to diseases and the higher satisfaction of sexual life, consequently the higher quality of life was. Especially male patient group or normal persons showed each other the higher scores of quality of life in physical and psychological area than female group or patient group. 4) No statistically significant difference in coping strategies to disease and quality of life was found between HBeAg positive group and HBeAg negative group. Conclusions : The authors suggest that chronic viral B hepatitis patients may show the lower score of quality of life than normal person. Therefore, quality of life assessment should become an integral part of all clinical area that seek to assess the effectiveness of treatment. Also, through the interdisciplinary approach, a comprehensive paradigm that can better account for the effects of chronic disease on the individual' s quality of life should be developed.