Background The most frequently used therapy for post-transplantation recurrence of hepatitis B virus （HBV） infection is lamivudine, but this drug is associated with a high resistance rate due to YMDD mutant. In preliminary reports, adefovir dipivoxil （ADV） has been shown to have activity against lamivudine-resistant strains of HBV. However, clinical experience in treatment of HBV infection after liver transplantation （LT） is still not entirely clear. This study was aimed to evaluate the prophylactic efficacy of ADV plus hepatitis B immunoglobulin （HBIG） in patients with YMDD mutant before LT. Methods From March 2004 to March 2006, 16 patients with chronic hepatitis B had lamivudine-resistant YMDD mutants detected prior to liver transplantation and received treatment with ADV plus additional intramuscular HBIG after LT as prophylaxis against graft reinfection. Tests for liver function, serum HBsAg, anti-HBs （HBIG）, HBeAg, anti-HBc, anti-HBe, HBV-DNA, and creatinine were assessed pre- or post-liver transplantation. Results The median follow-up of these patients post-liver transplantation was 19.4 months. Fifteen patients survived and one patient died of recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）. There was significant difference （10.98% vs. 2.26%, P〈0.05） in YMDD mutant rate between the patients with HBV-DNA over 106 copies/ml and those with HBV-DNA less than 106 copies/mi. Fifteen patients （93.8%） had undetectable HBV-DNA at 4 weeks and 1 （6.3%） at 6 months after LT. No hepatitis B recurrence was detected by persistent testing of HBsAg, HBeAg, and HBV-DNA and no increase of serum creatinine level associated with ADV was observed in any of the patients. Conclusion ADV combined with intramuscular HBIG can effectively prevent patients with pre-transplantation YMDD mutant from HBV recurrence after LT.
ZHANG Qi CAI Chang-jie LU Ming-qiang LI Xi JIANG Nan JIANG Hua XU Chi LI Hua WANG Gen-shu YI Shu-hong ZHANG Jian ZHANG Jun-feng YI Hui-min ZHANG Ying-cai CHEN Gui-hua
目的研究小分子干扰RNA(siRNA)特异性抑制肝癌细胞基因瞬时表达的可行性和基因沉默效率。方法凝胶电泳成像观察siRNA体外孵育后的降解性,利用Cy3示踪观察其转染HepG2细胞后动力学变化。将报告基因(GFP)和siRNA共同瞬时转染至HepG2细胞,流式细胞仪、Western blot RT-PCR等分析特异性siRNA抑制报告基因瞬时表达的效应。结果siRNA在空白培养液中和转染细胞内可较长时间保持相对稳定。与空白和非特异siRNA相比,GFPsiR-NA明显抑制GFP蛋白产物和mRNA的表达(P<0·05)。结论特异性siRNA能高效沉默人肝癌细胞转染基因的瞬时表达,为基因治疗提供了一种新的治疗策略。
