Objective To identify the predictive factors associated with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients treated with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFNα-2a).Methods Seventy-two HBeAg positive CHB patients were treated with PEG-IFNa-2a 180 μg weekly for 48 weeks. The serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA,HBeAg, and HBsAg were quantitatively detected every 3 months. The relationship between HBV DNA, HBeAg, and HBsAg levels at baseline, week 12, 24 of treatment and HBsAg loss was analyzed.The data were statistically assessed by Fisher's exact test,and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. ResultsTotally 65 patients accomplished the therapy, and 7 (10.8％)patients achieved HBsAg loss. HBsAg loss at week 48 of treatment was associated with HBeAg level at week 12 of treatment (Fisher's exact test, P= 0. 023), HBeAg level at week 24 (Fisher's exact test, P=0. 004), and lower HBsAg levels (＜250 IU/mL) at week 12 and 24 of treatment (Fisher's exact test,P=0. 001 and 0.002, respectively). HBsAg loss was associated with HBV DNA negative ( ＜ 1000 copy/mL) at week 12 of treatment (Fisher's exact test, P = 0. 039), while not associated with HBV DNA negative at week 24 of treatment (Fisher's exact test, P=0. 130). ROC curve analysis revealed that the AUC was 0. 8584(P=0. 0021) of HBsAg level at week 12, 0. 9606(P=0. 001) of HBsAg level at week 24, and 0. 8350(P=0. 040) of HBeAg level at week 24. ConclusionLevels of HBsAg and HBeAg at week 24 of treatment might serve as effective factors to predict HBsAg loss in patients received PEG-IFN monotherapy.

Objective To investigate the efficacy and toxicity of sorafenib in the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma. Methods From May 2007 to JUN 2009, 33 patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma were given oral sorafenib 400-600 mg twice daily. There were 23 males and 10 females in the study group. The pathological diagnosis of the primary tumors was clear cell carcinoma in 29 patients, papillary renal cell carcinoma in 2 patients, chromophobe renal cell carcinoma in 1 patient and chromophobe renal cell carcinoma mixed with clear renal cell carcinoma in 1 patient. Fifteen patients had multiple organ metastases and 18 patients had single organ metastasis. The median follow-up time was 29 weeks. Results Four (12%) patients achieved partial remission, 2 (6%) patients achieved progression disease, the remaining 27 (82%) patients achieved stable disease. Complete remission was not observed in the group. Two of the partial remission patients benefited on bone metastases. Common toxicities were skin reaction (85%), diarrhea (46%), erythra (42%), alopecia (36%), oral ulcer (18%) and hypertension (9%). Conclusions Sorafenib could be effective in controlling tumor growth. The overall effectiveness was 12%, the disease control proportion was 94% in this group and its toxicity was relatively minor and well tolerated.

Objective To evaluate and report the performance of PL-11 platelet analyzer.Methods Intravenous blood samples anticoagulated with EDTA-K2 and sodium citrate were tested by the PL-11 platelet analyzer to evaluate the intra-assay and inter-assay coefficient of variation (CV),carry-over rate,accuracy,linearity of the PL-11 platelet analyzer.Platelet aggregation rate of sodium citrate-anticoagulated fasting venous blood collected from 30 physical examinees in outpatient department of The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University between February and July,2012 was detected by the PL-11 platelet analyzer and MPG-3E multifunctional double channel blood coagulation analyzer,respectively.The correlation was detected between the PL-11 platelet analyzer and MPG-3E multifunctional double channel blood coagulation analyzer.Results All the parameters were conformed to the standard of Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment 88.Both of the intra-assay and inter-assay CV values were less than 5％ ; carry-over rate was less than 1％ ; the accuracy and the linearity was excellent correlated to the result of photoelectric turbidimetry (R2 =0.9439).Conclusions PL-11 platelet analyzer can directly use whole blood dynamics to analyze platelet aggregation process and quantitatively analyze the various components of blood cells (including platelets and red blood cells),the result reports are accurate and reliable.

Objective To investigate the association between hepatitis B virus (HBV)genotype, the mutations in HBV basic core gene promoter(BCP), pre C/C gene region and treatment response to interferon (IFN)α-1b. Methods Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients were treated with IFNα-Ib for 6 months and were followed up for 6 months after the end of treatment. Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) was used for determining HBV genotype. HBV DNA was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and analyzed for BCP and pre C/C gene region by sequencing. Measurement data were compared using t test and analysis of variance. Enumeration data were compared using chi-square test, Fisher exact probability test.Logistic regression analysis was utilized for multi-factor analysis. Results There were 39 patients who completed the treatment and follow up in this study. At the end of treatment, 16(41.0%) patients showed response to the IFNα-lb treatment. At the end of follow-up, four out of 16 patients who achieved on treatment response relapsed. Among 3a patients, 29 (74.4 %) were infected with genotype B and 10 (25. 6%) with genotype C. The treatment response rates were not significant different between the groups with different genotypes. The double mutation pattern (T1762/A1764) was found in eight (20. 5%) patients. The response rates to IFNα-lb treatment were not significant different between the group with and without double mutation pattern. A1896 mutation was detected in eight patients at baseline. Three of them became HBeAg negative at the end of treatment and returned to HBeAg positive during follow-up. The non-lyphocyte epitope mutations, L60V and I97L, were found in 15 patients (38. 5%) and 14 patients (35.9%), respectively. At the end of follow-up, the patients with 60V had a significantly lower HBeAg seroconversion rate and HBV DNA undetectable rate compared to the patients with 60L (Fisher exact probability test; P = 0.0126 and 0.0069,respectively). The HBV DNA undetectable rates in the patients with 97I were significantly lower than those in patients with 97L both at the end of treatment and the end of follow-up (Fisher exact probability test; P= 0.0484 and 0. 0024, respectively). Logistic regression analysis results showed that there was no association between the above viral mutations and the treatment response to IFNαlb. Conclusions There is no association between HBV genotype, BCP double mutation pattern and IFN-α treatment response. The non-lyphocyte epitope mutations, L60V and I97L, may have impact on IFN-α treatment response.