👤 Shunsuke Nosaka

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and hepatocyte-derived host factors play important roles in HBV-associated tumor progression. Alpha-1B glycoprotein (A1BG) is a plasma glycoprotein reported to be dysregulated in multiple cancers. In this study, we investigated the functional role of A1BG in HBV-associated HCC progression. Both the HepG2 and HBV-transfected HepG2 cell lines were used to examine the biological effects of A1BG. A1BG expression was modulated using siRNA and a plasmid vector. A series of functional assays were conducted to assess cell proliferation, apoptosis, stemness, migration, and invasion. RNA microarray analysis and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) were performed to identify A1BG-regulated pathways. Functionally, A1BG overexpression suppressed cell proliferation, stemness, migration, invasion, and HBV products while promoting apoptosis in both HepG2 and HBV-transfected HepG2 cells. In contrast, opposite effects were shown in the event of A1BG knockdown. Moreover, A1BG expression was reduced in HBV-associated HCC tissues and correlated with advanced pathological stage and poor prognosis. RNA microarray analysis and GSEA revealed the activation of anti-HBV-related genes and suppression of FGFR1 signaling and the matrix metalloproteinase pathway in A1BG-overexpressing cells. This study provides evidence that A1BG may be a novel host factor associated with the in vitro suppression of HBV replication and HCC progression by modulating pathways related to enhanced antiviral effects, reduced proliferative capacity and stemness, and suppression of EMT. These findings suggest that A1BG is a potential therapeutic target in HBV-related HCC. Show less

Neuromuscular scoliosis is associated with cerebral palsy caused by metabolic diseases. Patients with scoliosis require meticulous consideration in abdominal surgery, as scoliosis can reduce the abdominal cavity volume, compress abdominal organs, and cause abdominal complications. Special attention should be paid to the graft position, especially in the setting of liver transplantation (LT). We herein describe a pediatric case of LT for carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I (CPS1) deficiency with severe scoliosis. A 13-year-old girl with CPS1 deficiency was transferred to our department as a candidate for liver transplantation. She underwent living donor liver transplantation with a left lobe from her mother. Following LT, portal vein (PV) complications occurred due to the kinking anastomosis, requiring several rounds of graft repositioning, PV reconstruction, thrombectomy, and finally stent placement due to severe scoliosis. Technical efforts were made to ensure PV blood flow with stent placement via the umbilical vein. Three months after LT, she was discharged from our hospital with sufficient PV flow. This report suggests the need for a careful surgical approach in patients with skeletal abnormalities, such as the management of complications arising from anatomical abnormalities and selection of the appropriate graft size. Preoperative assessment and surgical planning of both donors and recipients according to patient characteristics should be carefully conducted. Show less

Two groups of Chinese hypertriacylglycerolemic subjects were recruited and randomized to medium- and long-chain triacylglycerols (MLCT) oil or long-chain triacylglycerols (LCT) oil. Two subgroups were divided by age at less or more 60 years in both groups. Both oils were consumed at 25-30 g daily for 8 weeks. Anthropometry, blood biochemicals, and computed tomography (CT) scanning were done at the initial and final times. In subjects of age less than 60 years on MLCT, the body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), waist-hip ratio (WHR), body fat, total fat area, and subcutaneous fat area were significantly lower than those of the initial values, and the change values in these indicators and visceral fat area lowered significantly as compared with those on LCT. The levels of apoB, apoA2, apoC2, and apoC3 decreased significantly, and the change in values in the levels of triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), apoA1, apoB, apoA2, apoC2, apoC3 were significantly lower on MLCT of age under 60 years as compared with those on LCT. Show less