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Recent Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Liver Diseases 2021

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2021) | Viewed by 17558

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Hirayuki Enomoto

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Guest Editor

Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Diseases, Department of Gastroenterology, Hyogo Medical University, Mukogawa-cho 1-1, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 663-8501, Japan
Interests: viral hepatitis; liver cirrhosis; portal hypertension; ascites; esophageal varices; liver fibrosis; hepatocellular carcinoma
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As our first Special Issue on “Recent Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Liver Diseases” (https://0-www-mdpi-com.brum.beds.ac.uk/journal/ijms/special_issues/liver_diseases) was such a great success, we are now launching a second edition to collect submissions in 2021.

Chronic liver diseases develop due to a wide range of causes, including hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, alcoholic-related liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and autoimmune liver diseases.

Recent advances in molecular and cellular techniques have succeeded in providing new aspects in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic liver diseases.

This Special Issue aims to cover the state-of-the-art research on chronic liver diseases. We invite authors to submit original articles, as well as review articles regarding recent findings on chronic liver diseases. We are particularly interested in molecular approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic liver diseases. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

Biomarkers for chronic liver diseases;
Genomic research for chronic liver diseases, including gene SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms);
Molecular mechanisms of chronic liver diseases;
Recent advances in the management of chronic liver diseases, including liver cirrhosis;
Molecularly-targeted therapy for liver cancer.

Dr. Hirayuki Enomoto
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Biomarker
Genomic research
Epigenomic research
Molecular mechanisms
Viral hepatitis
Alcoholic-related liver disease
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Autoimmune liver diseases
Liver cirrhosis
Hepatocellular carcinoma

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1838 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wisteria floribunda Agglutinin-Positive Mac-2 Binding Protein as a Screening Tool for Significant Liver Fibrosis in Health Checkup

by Nobuharu Tamaki, Masayuki Kurosaki, Yuka Takahashi, Yoshie Itakura, Sakura Kirino, Kento Inada, Koji Yamashita, Shuhei Sekiguchi, Yuka Hayakawa, Leona Osawa, Mayu Higuchi, Kenta Takaura, Chiaki Maeyashiki, Shun Kaneko, Yutaka Yasui, Kaoru Tsuchiya, Hiroyuki Nakanishi, Jun Itakura, Rohit Loomba and Namiki Izumi

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(1), 40; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22010040 - 22 Dec 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2008

Abstract

Chronic liver disease is generally widespread, and a test for screening fibrotic subjects in a large population is needed. The ability of Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive mac-2 binding protein (WFA⁺-M2BP) to detect significant fibrosis was investigated in health checkup subjects in this research. Of 2021 health checkup subjects enrolled in this prospective cross-sectional study, those with WFA⁺-M2BP ≥ 1.0 were defined as high risk. Liver fibrosis was evaluated using magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) in subjects with high risk. The primary outcome was the positive predictive value (PPV) of WFA⁺-M2BP for significant fibrosis (liver stiffness ≥ 2.97 kPa by MRE). This trial was registered with the UMIN clinical trial registry, UMIN000036175. WFA⁺-M2BP ≥ 1.0 was observed in 5.3% of the 2021 subjects. The PPV for significant fibrosis with the threshold of WFA⁺-M2BP at ≥1.0, ≥1.1, ≥1.2, ≥1.3, ≥1.4, and ≥1.5 was 29.2%, 36.4%, 43.5%, 42.9%, 62.5%, and 71.4%, respectively. A WFA⁺-M2BP of 1.2 was selected as the optimal threshold for significant fibrosis among high-risk subjects, and the PPV, negative predictive value, sensitivity, and specificity for significant fibrosis were 43.5%, 84.0%, 71.4%, and 61.8%, respectively. WFA⁺-M2BP ≥ 1.2 was significantly associated with significant fibrosis, with an odds ratio (OR) of 4.04 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1–16, p = 0.04), but not FIB-4 ≥ 2.67 (OR: 2.40, 95%CI: 0.7–8.6, p-value = 0.2). In conclusion, WFA⁺-M2BP is associated with significant fibrosis and could narrow down potential subjects with liver fibrosis. The strategy of narrowing down fibrosis subjects using WFA⁺-M2BP may be used to screen for fibrotic subjects in a large population. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Liver Diseases 2021)

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Review

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16 pages, 3119 KiB

Open AccessReview

Application of Immunohistochemistry in the Pathological Diagnosis of Liver Tumors

by Yoshihisa Takahashi, Erdenetsogt Dungubat, Hiroyuki Kusano, Dariimaa Ganbat, Yasuhiko Tomita, Sarandelger Odgerel and Toshio Fukusato

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(11), 5780; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22115780 - 28 May 2021

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 8262

Abstract

Although radiological diagnostics have been progressing, pathological diagnosis remains the most reliable method for diagnosing liver tumors. In some cases, definite pathological diagnosis cannot be obtained by histological evaluation alone, especially when the sample is a small biopsy; in such cases, immunohistochemical staining is very useful. Immunohistochemistry is the most frequently used technique for molecular pathological diagnosis due to its broad application, ease of performance and evaluation, and reasonable cost. The results occasionally reflect specific genetic mutations. The immunohistochemical markers of hepatocellular carcinoma include those of hepatocellular differentiation—such as hepatocyte paraffin 1 and arginase-1—and those of malignant hepatocytes—such as glypican-3, heat shock protein 70, and glutamine synthetase (GS). To classify the subtypes of hepatocellular adenoma, examination of several immunohistochemical markers, such as liver fatty acid-binding protein, GS, and serum amyloid A, is indispensable. Immunohistochemical staining for GS is also important for the diagnosis of focal nodular hyperplasia. The representative immunohistochemical markers of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma include cytokeratin (CK) 7 and CK19. In this article, we provide an overview of the application of immunohistochemistry in the pathological diagnosis of liver tumors referring to the association with genetic alterations. Furthermore, we aimed to explain the practical points in the differential diagnosis of liver tumors by immunohistochemical staining. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Liver Diseases 2021)

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14 pages, 763 KiB

Open AccessReview

Management of Cirrhotic Ascites under the Add-on Administration of Tolvaptan

by Takuya Adachi, Yasuto Takeuchi, Akinobu Takaki, Atsushi Oyama, Nozomu Wada, Hideki Onishi, Hidenori Shiraha and Hiroyuki Okada

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(11), 5582; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22115582 - 25 May 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 6268

Abstract

Tolvaptan is a recently available diuretic that blocks arginine vasopressin receptor 2 in the renal collecting duct. Its diuretic mechanism involves selective water reabsorption by affecting the water reabsorption receptor aquaporin 2. Given that liver cirrhosis patients exhibit hyponatremia due to their pseudo-aldosteronism and usage of natriuretic agents, a sodium maintaining agent, such as tolvaptan, is physiologically preferable. However, large scale studies indicating the patients for whom this would be effective and describing management under its use have been insufficient. The appropriate management of cirrhosis patients treated with tolvaptan should be investigated. In the present review, we collected articles investigating the effectiveness of tolvaptan and factors associated with survival and summarized their management reports. Earlier administration of tolvaptan before increasing the doses of natriuretic agents is recommended because this may preserve effective arterial blood volume. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Liver Diseases 2021)

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