title: Clinicopathological features of hepatitis C virus disease after living donor liver transplantation: relationship with in situ hybridisation data.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recurrent hepatitis is a significant complication after liver transplantation for hepatitis C virus (HCV) disease. To evaluate responsiveness to treatment of HCV disease after liver transplantation, in situ hybridisation (ISH) was employed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sense and anti-sense probes for HCV were synthesised, and ISH studies were performed on 19 liver biopsy specimens from 19 recipients who had undergone living donor liver transplantation for HCV disease. ISH positive cells and total hepatocytes were counted, and the percentage of positive cells was calculated. Other clinical findings were compared retrospectively with the ISH results.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The subjects were divided into three groups: recurrent HCV hepatitis (RHC, n = 11), acute cellular rejection (ACR, n = 5), and recurrent HCV hepatitis with ACR (MIX, n = 3). The percentage of ISH positive cells was almost the same degree (10-20%) in the three groups. The RHC group was subdivided into two sets of patients in whom serum HCV titres decreased (group D, n = 7) or did not decrease (group ND, n = 3) after 1 month of IFN therapy. The percentage of ISH positive cells in group D was significantly lower than that in group ND (p < 0.05)
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ISH for the recipients with HCV may be useful for predicting the response to interferon therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Transplant Surgery, Shinshu University, School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan. masuda@shinshu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakazawa
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sano
authors.forename: Atsuyoshi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mita
authors.forename: Yasunari
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Urata
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ikegami
authors.forename: Shiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miwa
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyagawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001706:Biopsy; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D058625:End Stage Liver Disease / Q000601:surgery / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017403:In Situ Hybridization / Q000379:methods; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D012254:Ribavirin; C417083:peginterferon alfa-2b