The presence of a Y93H variant was associated with higher HCV RNA levels and TT genotype at rs8099917 of IL28B. Thus, patients with a Y93H variant may be ideal candidates for IFN-based therapy rather than IFN-free therapy, although the high viral load of these patients may reduce the response rate of IFN-based therapy.

ARFI correlated with fibrosis stage and hyaluronic acid but not with inflammation. ARFI was affected by BMI, γ-glutamyltranspeptidase, and hyaluronic acid in each fibrosis stage.

AimTo investigate associations between patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing 3 (PNPLA3) genotypes and fibrosis and hepatocarcinogenesis in Japanese chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients.MethodsTwo hundred and thirty-one patients with CHC were examined for PNPLA3 genotypes, liver stiffness measurements (LSM), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from May 2010 to October 2012 at Fujita Health University Hospital. The rs738409 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) encoding for a functional PNPLA3 I148M protein variant was genotyped using a TaqMan predesigned SNP genotyping assay. LSM was determined as the velocity of a shear wave (Vs) with an acoustic radiation force impulse. Vs cut-off values for cirrhosis were set at 1.55 m/s. We excluded CHC patients with a sustained virological response or relapse after interferon treatment.ResultsPNPLA3 genotypes were CC, CG, and GG for 118, 72, and 41 patients, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression analysis selected older age (OR = 1.06; 95% CI: 1.03–1.09; p < 0.0001), higher body mass index (BMI) (OR= 1.12; 95% CI: 1.03–1.22; p = 0.0082), and PNPLA3 genotype GG (OR = 2.07; 95% CI: 0.97–4.42; p = 0.0599) as the factors independently associated with cirrhosis. When 137 patients without past history of interferon treatment were separately assessed, multivariable logistic regression analysis selected older age (OR = 1.05; 95% CI: 1.02–1.09; p = 0.0034), and PNPLA3 genotype GG (OR = 3.35; 95% CI: 1.13–9.91; p = 0.0291) as the factors independently associated with cirrhosis. Multivariable logistic regression analysis selected older age (OR = 1.12; 95% CI: 1.07–1.17; p < 0.0001), PNPLA3 genotype GG (OR = 2.62; 95% CI: 1.15–5.96; p = 0.0218), and male gender (OR = 1.83; 95% CI: 0.90–3.71); p = 0.0936) as the factors independently associated with HCC.ConclusionPNPLA3 genotype I148M is one of risk factors for developing HCC in Japanese CHC patients, and is one of risk factors for progress to cirrhosis in the patients without past history of interferon treatment.

Background and study aims  Biliary metallic stents are used to drain unresectable malignant distal biliary obstructions. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a novel 12-mm-diameter covered, self-expandable end bare metal stent (12-mm CSEEMS). Patients and methods  We evaluated 99 patients with unresectable malignant distal biliary obstructions treated with covered biliary metallic stents. Of the 99 patients, 33 underwent 12-mm CSEEMS placement between June 2015 and April 2017 (12-mm-CSEEMS group) and 66 underwent 10-mm fully-covered self-expandable metal stent (FCSEMS) placement between January 2010 and July 2015 (10-mm-FCSEMS group). The overall survival (OS), the recurrent biliary obstruction (RBO), cause of RBO, time to RBO (TRBO) and adverse events in 12-mm-CSEEMS group and 10-mm-FCSEMS group were evaluated retrospectively. Results  The OS tended to be longer in the 12-mm-CSEEMS group (log rank, P  = 0.081) and TRBO was significantly longer in the 12-mm-CSEEMS group (log rank, P  = 0.001) than in the 10-mm-FCSEMS group. Both univariate (HR, 0.449; 95 % CI, 0.27967 – 0.72215; P  = 0.001) and multivariate (HR, 0.458; 95 % CI, 0.28395 – 0.73744; P  = 0.001) Cox hazard analysis found that risk of RBO was significantly lower in 12-mm CSEEMS than in 10-mm FCSEMS. There were no significant differences between the 12-mm-CSEEMS group and 10-mm-FCSEMS group regarding the cause of RBO and adverse events. Conclusions  The 12-mm CSEEMS showed a low risk of RBO compared with 10-mm FCSEMS and was considered to be effective and safe for draining unresectable malignant distal biliary obstruction.

This study revealed an association between rs2856718 and HCC development and an association between rs7453920 and HBsAg levels.