title: Biomarkers of disease differentiation: HCV recurrence versus acute cellular rejection.
abstract: The wound-healing process induced by chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection triggers liver damage characterized by fibrosis development and finally cirrhosis. Liver Transplantation (LT) is the optimal surgical treatment for HCV-cirrhotic patients at end-stage liver disease. However, acute cellular rejection (ACR) and HCV recurrence disease represent two devastating complications post-LT. The accurate differential diagnosis between both conditions is critical for treatment choice, and similar histological features represent a challenge for pathologists. Moreover, the HCV recurrence disease severity is highly variable post-LT. HCV recurrence disease progression is characterized by an accelerated fibrogenesis process, and almost 30% of those patients develop cirrhosis at 5-years of follow-up. Whole-genome gene expression (WGE) analyses through well-defined oligonucleotide microarray platforms represent a powerful tool for the molecular characterization of biological process. In the present manuscript, the utility of microarray technology is applied for the ACR and HCV-recurrence biological characterization in post-LT liver biopsy samples. Moreover, WGE analysis was performed to identify predictive biomarkers of HCV recurrence severity in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded liver biopsies prospectively collected.
authors.affiliation: University of Virginia, Department of Surgery, Transplant Division, P.O. Box 800625, 904 Lane Rd, Charlottesville, VA, 22908-0625, USA.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gehrau
authors.affiliation: University of Virginia, Department of Surgery, Transplant Division, P.O. Box 800625, 904 Lane Rd, Charlottesville, VA, 22908-0625, USA.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mas
authors.affiliation: Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Biostatistics P.O. Box 980032, 730 East Broad Street, Room 3006, Richmond, VA 23298-0032, USA.
authors.forename: Kellie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Archer
authors.affiliation: University of Virginia, Department of Surgery, Transplant Division, P.O. Box 800625, 904 Lane Rd, Charlottesville, VA, 22908-0625, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maluf