Objective To investigate the expression of interferon inducible protein-10 (IP-10) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients with hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF), and its correlation with disease severity.Methods Eighty patients with HBV-ACLF, 60 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and 25 healthy controls were enrolled from the Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science during October 2013 and February 2015.IP-10 mRNA in PBMC was measured by real time quantitative PCR.Independent sample t test was used to analyze the difference in IP-10 mRNA expression between HBV-ACLF patients with model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) ＜ 30 and ≥30, and Pearson correlation test was performed to analyze the correlations of IP-10 mRNA expression with alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total bilirubin (TBil) and international normalized ratio (INR).Results The expressions of IP-10 mRNA in HBV-ACLF patients was 1.00 ± 0.19, which was higher than those in CHB patients and healthy controls (0.64 ± 0.08 and 0.41 ± 0.06, t =3.841 and 16.661, all P ＜ 0.01).The expression of IP-10 mRNA in HBV-ACLF patients with MELD ＜ 30 was 0.96 ±0.19, which was lower than that in patients with MELD ≥ 30 (1.14 ± 0.21, t =-2.283, P ＜0.05).Pearson correlation analysis showed that IP-10 mRNA level in HBV-ACLF patients was positively correlated with ALT, TBil and INR (r =0.697, 0.738 and 0.775, all P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion IP-10 mRNA is over-expressed in PBMC of patients with HBV-ACLF, and it is correlated with disease severity, which suggests that IP-10 may play an important role in the progression of liver failure.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in evaluation of inflammation and prediction of cardiovascular events in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients.Methods One hundred and eight stable MHD patients were recruited from Dialysis Center of Beijing Tongren Hospital from October 2015 to December 2015.The general information,complete blood count,hsCRP,biochemical test,iron metabolic indicators,pre-dialytic systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were recorded.MHD patients were divided into the low NLR group and high NLR group according to the median of NLR (2.82).All patients were followed up for 18 months,cardiovascular events (CVE) were recorded during this period.Results In the high NLR group the dialysis vintage,white blood cell count,neutrophil count,NLR and hsCRP were significantly higher than those in the low NLR group [(88.0 ± 50.4) vs.(62.4 ± 40.6) months (t =2.48,P =0.02),(6.96 ± 1.82) × 109/L vs.(5.83 ± 1.33) × 109/L(t =3.14,P=0.00),(4.94 ± 1.38) × 109/L vs.(3.36 ±0.87) × 109/ L(t=6.08,P=0.00),(4.16±1.25) vs.(2.15 ±0.46) points(t=9.48,P=0.00),(7.85±4.92) vs.(3.13 ± 2.23) mg/L (t =4.97,P =0.00)].In the high NLR group lymphocyte count and transferrin saturation were significantly lower than those in the low NLR group[(1.25 ± 0.40) × 109/L vs.(1.58 ± 0.34) ×109/L,t=3.97,P=0.00;(25.7±10.2)％ vs.(32.6±17.2)％,t=2.17,P=0.03].There were no significant differences in age,sex,diabetes proportion,pre-dialytic SBP,pre-dialytic DBP,urea clearence index(Kt/V),hemoglobin,serum ferritin,serum calcium,serum phosphorus,intait parathyroid hormone,albumin,serum creatinine,carbon dioxide binding capacity and blood lipids between the two groups (P ＞ 0.05).Bivariate correlation analysis showed that NLR was positively correlated with dialysis vintage and hsCRP (r =0.311,P =0.01;r =0.574,P =0.00);white blood cell count and neutrophil count were positively correlated with hsCRP (r =0.327,P =0.00;r =0.488,P =0.00).During follow-up period 9 cases of CVE (16.7％) and 20 cases of CVE (37.0％) occurred in the low NLR group and high NLR group,respectively (x2 =5.70,P =0.03).Cox regression analysis showed that age,NLR and serum phosphorus level were risk factors of CVE in MHD patients (HR =1.075,P =0.00,HR =1.646,P =0.00;HR =1.912,P =0.02).Conclusion NLR can predict inflammation and is one of the risk factors for CVE in MHD patients.

ObjectiveTo systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of mesenchymal stem cells （MSC） in the treatment of acute-on-chronic liver failure （ACLF）. MethodsThis study was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines， with the PROSPERO registration number of CRD42024517851. PubMed， Embase， Wanfang Data， VIP， CNKI， CBM， and the Cochrane Library were searched for randomized controlled trials （RCT） and cohort studies on MSC in the treatment of ACLF published up to November 1， 2023， and the articles were screened according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. After data extraction and quality assessment， RevMan 5.3 software was used to perform the Meta-analysis. ResultsA total of 11 articles involving 803 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. The results showed that for the patients with ACLF， MSC could improve 8-week survival rate （odds ratio ［OR］=2.71， 95% confidence interval ［CI］： 1.58‍ ‍—‍ ‍4.67， P=0.000 3）， 12-week survival rate （OR=2.24， 95%CI： 1.36‍ ‍—‍ ‍3.69， P=0.001）， 24-week survival rate （OR=2.09， 95%CI： 1.37‍ ‍—‍ ‍3.17， P=0.000 6）， and 48-week survival rate （OR=2.09， 95%CI： 1.29‍ ‍—‍ ‍3.40， P=0.003） and reduce 12-week Model for End-Stage Liver Disease （MELD） score （mean difference ［MD］=-3.27， 95%CI： -6.07 to -0.48， P=0.02） and 24-week MELD score （MD=-2.24， 95%CI： -3.16 to -1.33， P<0.000 01）； it could also reduce the level of total bilirubin after 4 weeks of treatment （MD=-36.86， 95%CI： -48.72 to -25.01， P<0.000 01） and increase 4-week albumin level （MD=2.11， 95%CI： 0.62‍ ‍—‍ ‍3.61， P=0.006） and 24-week albumin level （MD=3.54， 95%CI： 2.06‍ ‍—‍ ‍5.02， P<0.000 01）. Adverse events were evaluated in 6 studies， with no serious adverse events. ConclusionMSC have a good safety in treatment and can improve the survival rate of patients and enhance liver function to some extent， and therefore， it holds promise for clinical application.