• Laboratory Medicine and Quality Assurance
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.51-69
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• 2018

As part of the immunoserology program of the Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service, we organized two trials on the external quality assessment of hepatitis viral markers in 2016 and 2017. The hepatitis viral antigens and antibodies program consisted of 10 test items. We delivered two and three types of pooled sera specimens to 965 and 965 institutions for the first and second trials of external proficiency testing in 2016, respectively. The number of participating laboratories was 915 (94.8%) and 913 (95.0%) in the first and second trials in 2016, respectively. We also delivered three kinds of pooled sera specimens to 936 and 1,015 institutions for the first and second trials of external proficiency testing in 2017, respectively. The number of participating laboratories was 920 (98.3%) and 996 (98.1%) in the first and second trials in 2017, respectively. The most commonly tested items were hepatitis B surface antigen, followed by the antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen, anti-hepatitis C virus, hepatitis B envelope antigen, antibodies to hepatitis B envelope antigen, anti-hepatitis A virus and antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen. The most frequently used methods for detecting viral markers were the chemiluminescence immunoassay and the electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, but they yielded a few-false positive results due to the matrix effect. The immunochromatographic assay yielded false-negative results for anti-hepatitis A virus due to low sensitivity. Continuous improvement in the quality of viral hepatitis testing through participation in the survey seems necessary.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.59-66
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• 1981

Serum HBsAg and Anti-HBs obtained by radioimmunoassay were studied in 109 cases of various liver diseases who visited or were admitted to National Medical Center from December, 1980 to July, 1981. The results were as follows; 1) HBsAg was detected in 67.0% of total 109 cases; 71.9% of 32 cases with acute viral hepatitis, 71.4% of 14 cases with chronic hepatitis, 65.2% of 46 cases with liver cirrhosis and 58.8% of 17 cases with hepatoma. 2) Anti-HBs was detected in 32.1% of total 109 cases; 37.0% of 46 cases with liver cirrhosis, 29.4% of 17 cases with hepatoma, 28.6% of 14 cases with chronic hepatitis, 28.1% of 32 cases with acute viral hepatitis. 3) HBsAg or Anti-HBs, the markers of Hepatitis B virus was detected in 89.0% of total 109 cases; 93.6% of 32 cases with acute viral hepatitis, 89.1% of 46 cases with liver cirrhosis, 85.7% of 14 cases with chronic hepatitis and 82.4% of 17 cases with hepatoma, which strongly suggested that the various liver diseases were associated with hepatitis B virus infection.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.228-237
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• 2002

Acute hepatitis is caused by virus, alcohol. toxins and drugs. Clinical symptoms of acute hepatitis are severe fatigue, jaundice, nausea, hepatomely, lymphadenopathy. We encountered two cases of acute hepatitis, one C type viral hepatitis and the other hepatitis by overuse of medicine. The symptoms of the latter are severe fatigue, petechia and heartburning. The symptoms of the latter are severe fatigue, nausea, dyspepsia, yellow urine and skin. We recognized that total bilirubin. direct bilirubin, serum transaminase, alkaline phosphatase and gamma glutamyl transferase were elevated. We treated both patients with herb medicine(Gagamsaenggan-tang). Gagamsaenggan-tang has been used to hepatic diseases and have been known to have beneficial effects. The patients' symptoms began to improve after about two weeks of treatment. After 3 weeks on medication, the clinical symptoms and liver function of two patients were improved.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.20 no.2 s.22
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• pp.280-286
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• 1987

For evaluating the boosting (anamnestic) effects of the most recent commercially produced plasma derived heat-inactivated hepatitis B vaccine (A. Co.), 117 adults with naturally acquired antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) were selected at random. In addition, out of case immunized at zero and 1 month, and boosted at 6 months (primary boosting) by conventional vaccine (B. Co), inactivated by pepsin digestion and formalin treatment, 11 cases who showed elevated titer after primary boosting were also submitted to the study. The results were as follows: 1) Out of the 117 subjects with naturally acquired anti-HBs, 6(5.1%) showed isolated anti-HBs and the titers were below 10 ratio units (RU). Negative seroconversion was seen in 4(3.4%) of the 117 cases at 12 months after the screening and, of these cases, 3 showed isolated anti-HBs and the titers were below 10 RU. 2) Eighty-three percent of the cases with naturally acquired isolated anti-HBs below 10 RU did not respond to a booster injection with 3 us dose of A. Co. vaccine at all, but 90% of the other subjects responded. 3) The anti-HBs titers of all the 11 cases who showed a rise of more than 10 RU (increased GMT, 28.04) at one month after primary booster injection by $20{\mu}g$ dose of B. Co. vaccine decreased at 19 months after the primary booster. And 3 subjects (27.3%) of the 11 reached negative seroconversion. All of the 11 cases, who had secondary booster injection with $3{\mu}g$ dose of A. Co. vaccine at 19 months after primary boosting, showed increased anti-HBs titer at least 20 RU or more (increased GMT, 57. 72) at one month after the boosting. According to the above results in the anti-HBs screening survey for the purpose of immunization with hepatitis B vaccine, subjects with isolated anti-HBs below 10 RU should be regarded as being in an unimmunized state. In cases who are in risk circumstances, immunized primarily with a $20{\mu}g$ dose of B. Co. vaccine, a secondary booster injection should be given within 2 years after initiation of primary immunization and a $3{\mu}g$ booster dose of A. Co. vaccine can be reliably used.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.148-157
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• 2022

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease and is highly dependent on cellular proteins for viral propagation. Using protein microarray analysis, we identified 90 cellular proteins as HCV nonstructural 5A (NS5A) interacting partners, and selected telomere length regulation protein (TEN1) for further study. TEN1 forms a heterotrimeric complex with CTC and STN1, which is essential for telomere protection and maintenance. Telomere length decreases in patients with active HCV, chronic liver disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the molecular mechanism of telomere length shortening in HCV-associated disease is largely unknown. In the present study, protein interactions between NS5A and TEN1 were confirmed by immunoprecipitation assays. Silencing of TEN1 reduced both viral RNA and protein expression levels of HCV, while ectopic expression of the siRNA-resistant TEN1 recovered the viral protein level, suggesting that TEN1 was specifically required for HCV propagation. Importantly, we found that TEN1 is re-localized from the nucleus to the cytoplasm in HCV-infected cells. These data suggest that HCV exploits TEN1 to promote viral propagation and that telomere protection is compromised in HCV-infected cells. Overall, our findings provide mechanistic insight into the telomere shortening in HCV-infected cells.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1919-1924
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• 2015

Polymorphisms in the region of the interleukin IL-28 gene on chromosome 19 have been related with clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV), a major human pathogen responsible for chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. About 3% of the world's population is infected with HCV. The long-term response to therapy is influenced by many host and viral factors, and recent evidence has indicated that some host genetic polymorphisms related to IL-28 are the most powerful predictors of virological response in patients with HCV. This study assessed frequency of the IL-28 polymorphism (rs8099917) in 50 patients (39 men and 11 women) with chronic hepatitis C using ZNA probe real time PCR new method. All patients were tested for genotype of HCV and the HCV viral load. In parallel, the levels of SGOT, SGPT and ALK enzymes were assessed. Treatment using Peg-interferon alpha with ribavirin was conducted for patients and subsequently samples were collected to detect any change in viral load or liver enzyme rates. The overall frequency of the TT allele is 74%, TG allele 20% and GG allele 6% and the percent of patients who had T allele was 84%. Clear reduction in viral load and liver enzymes was reported in patients with the T allele. Especially for genotype 1 which is relatively resistant to treatment, these alleles may have a role in this decline. In conclusion, we showed that IL-28 polymorphism rs8099917 strongly predicts virological response in HCV infection and that real-time PCR with Zip nucleic acid probes is a sensitive, specific and rapid detection method for detection of SNPs which will be essential for monitoring patients undergoing antiviral therapy.

• BMB Reports
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.234-236
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• 1997

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with the rapid development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. It has been reported that the amount of HCV RNA may be correlated with the progression of hepatitis and may be a prognostic marker for treatment of HCV patients. The direct detection of HCV RNA by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is widely used to determine the presence of circulating virions. The most relevant limit of this approach is the lack of quantitative information about the viral titer. In the present study, we developed the method for HCV quantitation using competitive reverse transcription (CRT)-PCR using the deleted HCV standard. The serially diluted standard was added in titrated amounts to the target HCV RNA. The mixture was then reverse transcribed and amplified in the same reaction tube. The methods were evaluated using over 110 HCV-PCR positive samples in Koreans. About 59% of the samples were judged to contain $10^{5}-10^{6}$ copies of HCV RNA in 1 ml of serum.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.244-253
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• 2003

Objective : Interferon-alpha and Rivabirin are much used at the same time to treat Chronical C viral hepatitis. But interferon caused lots of unexpected side effects, Acupuncture Treatment for them will be an alternative plan. Methods : We first posed questions to a 4 year-old man who ha skin flare, fatigue, itching, insomnia, pronounced a diagnosis based on overall of symptoms and signs and then treated Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Electroacupuncture. We acupunctured a BL17, BL18, BL20 and removed it at once. We electroacupunctured at GV20, Yin tang(Ex-HN3) form 20 minutes, acupunctured at Bi yi(鼻翼, Extra-point), S36, P6. Pizhengge(脾定格) was acupunctured for 10 minutes. Results : The symptoms of fatigue, insomnia, itching are reduced after acupuncture treatments and they made a person keep interferon treatment on. Conclusions : We confirmed that acupuncture treatments make a patient of chronic C viral hepatitis reduce and improve side effects of interferon treatment. We should keep on studying the various and efficient method of acupuncture treatment to improve living quality and treatment efficiency of patients.

• BMB Reports
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.269-273
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• 1997

Heptocvte-specific expression induced by Hepatitis B virus (HBV) enhancer 2-core gene promoter was examined in various hepatocyte and non-hepatocyte cell lines. using non-viral and retroviral vector systems in which chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) is used as a reporter. The non-viral plasmid containing the HBV enhancer 2-core promoter exhibited 22 and 66% of CAT activities in hepatoma cell lines. HepG2 and Hep3B, respectively when compared with CAT activity expressed by CMV promoter. The CAT activities, however. were found to be marginal in other tested hepatoma cell lines as well as mouse primary hepatocytes and non-hepatocytes. The HBV enhancer 2 located upstream the CMV promoter did not affect the CMV promoter activity nor provided hepatocyte-specific expression. Transfection of retroviral plasmid DNA containing the HBV enhancer 2-core promoter as an internal promoter exhibited high and specific CAT expression in HepG2 and Hep3B cell lines but the activity value was 5 to 10 fold lower than the non-viral plasmid with identical promoter. These results suggest that the usage of HBV enhancer 2-core promoter for liver specific expression is limited to certain vectors and hepatocyte cell lines.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1037-1040
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• 2015

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne infectious disease of liver, caused by a small enveloped, positive-single stranded RNA virus, called the hepatitis C virus (HCV). HCV belongs to the Flaviviridae family and has 6 genotypes and more than 100 subtypes. It is estimated that 185 million people are infected with HCV worldwide and 5% of these are in Pakistan. The study was designed to evaluate different genotypes of HCV circulating in District Mardan and to know about the behavior of these genotypes to different anti-viral regimes. In this study 3,800 patients were exposed to interferon alfa-2a plus Ribavirin treatment for 6-months and subjected to real-time PCR to check the viral response. Among these 3,677 (97%) patients showed no detectable HCV RNA while 123 (3%) patients (non-responders) remained positive for HCV RNA. Genotypes of their analyzed showed that most of them belonged to the 3a genotype. Non-responders (123) and relapsed (5) patients were subjected to PEG-interferon and Ribavirin therapy for next 6 months, which resulted into elimination of HCV RNA from 110 patients. The genotypes of the persisting resistant samples to anti-viral treatment were 3b, 2a, 1a and 1b. Furthermore, viral RNA from 6 patients remained un-typed while 4 patients showed mixed infections. HCV was found more resistant to antiviral therapy in females as compared to mals. The age group 36-45 in both females and males was found most affected by infection. In general 3a is the most prevalent genotype circulating in district Mardan and the best anti-viral therapy is PEG-interferon plus Ribavirin but it is common practice that due to the high cost patients receive interferon alfa-2a plus Ribavirin with consequent resistance in 3% patients given this treatment regime.