When compared to controls, the patients with active liver disease had a 19% decrease in albumin, a 97% increase in type I collagen, and a 120% increase in transforming growth factor-beta 1 mRNA levels.
Therefore, in the present study we evaluated albumin and collagen gene expression in livers of alcohol abusers and patients with virus-induced liver disease.
The main conclusions and recommendations are as follows: (i) Albumin measurement forms a limited, but useful part of the investigation of liver disease; a normal serum albumin concentration makes the diagnosis of cirrhosis unlikely, while a low level in viral hepatitis suggests either severe hepatocellular damage or other complications.
We evaluated the prognostic significance of anti-p53 antibody in 86 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in comparison with clinicopathological factors: age, sex, etiology, smoking and drinking habits, history of blood transfusion, presence of encephalopathy and ascites, Child classification, Pugh score, bilirubin, albumin, prothrombin time, indocyanine green retention time at 15 min (ICG), underlying liver disease, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), tumor size, number of tumors, differentiation degree of HCC, presence of extrahepatic metastasis and therapy for HCC.
Six of 21 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and 11 of 59 patients with other diseases of the liver were positive for albumin reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, making this assay an indicator of ongoing liver damage without absolute specificity for hepatocellular carcinoma.
Albumin mRNA levels were measured in the following: (1) peripheral blood in 11 patients with HCC and 20 control subjects without liver disease, (2) blood in the portal and hepatic veins in five patients with HCC immediately after laparotomy, and (3) a perioperative series of peripheral blood in eight patients with HCC.
Furthermore, no correlation was observed between serum HCV RNA levels and the severity of liver disease as judged by the values of serum albumin (r = 0.175), bilirubin (r = 0.217), ALT (r = 0.06) and AST (r = 0.004) levels.
In multivariate analysis decreased hemoglobin (r = -0.05; 95% CI: -0.08 to -0.03; P = 0.001) and albumin levels (r = -0.004; 95% CI: -0.007 to -0.001; P = 0.002) were highly significant predictors of advanced liver disease.
To clarify the role of IL-22 up-regulation in the pathogenesis of liver diseases, liver-specific IL-22 transgenic (IL-22TG) mice, under the control of albumin promoter, were developed.
We achieved approximately 1000-fold propagation of h-heps in the liver of albumin promoter/enhancer-driven urokinase-type plasminogen activator transgenic/severe combined immunodeficiency disease (uPA/SCID) mice with genetically induced liver disease and immunodeficiency.
Nearly, one-third of cirrhotics receiving standard albumin infusion develop volume overload, specially, those with higher BMI and lower severity of liver disease.
Advanced age, lower platelet counts, positive HBV DNA load, lower ALB concentration and relatively advanced liver disease were associated with an increased risk of developing HCC.
In preclinical models of liver disease, treatment with C/EBPα saRNA has shown reduction in tumor volume and improvement in serum markers of essential liver function such as albumin, bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine transaminase (ALT).
A history of decompensated liver disease (hazard ratio, 1.57; 95% confidence interval, 1.34-1.83; P < 0.001) and decreased albumin (hazard ratio, 2.70 per 1 g/dL decrease; 95% confidence interval, 2.38-3.12; P < 0.001) were independently associated with increased risk of death.
Bleeding events, thrombocytopenia, total leukocyte count, levels of transaminases (aspartate transaminases, alanine transaminases), serum bilirubin, serum albumin and serum creatinine, duration of hospitalization and mortality were significantly greater in patients with malarial hepatopathy (p<0.05).
The impairments in sorafenib biotransformation were correlated with decreased serum albumin concentrations and increased serum bilirubin concentrations in patients with liver disease, but not with the overall grade of liver disease according to the Child-Pugh system.
Transplantation of rBM-MSC-DSCs into liver-injured rats restored their serum albumin level and significantly suppressed transaminase activity as well as the morphological manifestations of liver disease.
The characterization of these modifications is of high interest for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with liver diseases and for the structural integrity assessment of albumin as a therapeutic protein.
Conclusion: HNA1 triggers an inflammatory response in PBMCs, providing a rationale for its removal and replacement by reduced albumin in the prevention of systemic inflammation in patients with advanced liver disease.