Hong Tang

Objectives This study aimed to determine the epidemiological characteristics of drug‐resistant tuberculosis (DR‐TB) and investigate the risk factors associated with multidrug‐resistant tuberculosis (MDR‐TB) in Sichuan, China. Methods The study involved 5180 clinical isolates collected from Sichuan since 2013, with non‐tuberculous mycobacteria excl...

Objective Acute liver failure (ALF) is a rare yet serious clinical syndrome. Recent studies have indicated that stem cells can effectively treat this condition. However, the optimal route for stem cell transplantation in the treatment of ALF remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the most effective transplantation route for stem cell thera...

Background and aims The triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index serves as a reliable indicator of insulin resistance and metabolic risk factors. Most research has focused on obese individuals, with limited exploration in those with a normal body mass index (BMI). Method This study analyzed 4,440 adults with normal BMI from NHANES 2003–2018. Logistic regr...

Background The double plasma molecular adsorption system (DPMAS) is a crucial therapeutic modality for the management of severe liver disease. Current literature reports considerable variability in the volume of processed plasma (VPP) utilized during DPMAS treatment, and there is currently no consensus on the appropriate VPP. We aimed to investigat...

Background The impact of lactate-to-albumin ratio (LAR) on mortality of critically ill cirrhotic patients with sepsis is scant. Methods Critically ill cirrhotic patients with sepsis were obtained from the MIMIC-IV database (v3.0). Cox regression models alone and in combination with restricted cubic splines, generalized additive models and smoothed...

Background There’s a scarcity of drugs effective against nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Exosomes from Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (huc-MSCs) show potential in managing glycolipid metabolism and the immune response. Therefore, further investigations are required to explore their application in NASH and the underlying mechanisms...

The impact of neutrophil percentage-to-albumin ratio (NPAR) on the outcome of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is scant. A retrospective cohort study was conducted in patients with ACLF treated with artificial liver support system (ALSS). The ACLF was diagnosed according to the Chinese Group on the Study of Severe Hepatitis B-ACLF (COSSH ACLF)...

The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) often develops immune-related adverse events (irAEs). However, irAEs-induced multi-organ injuries remain a rare event. We herein report a case of multi-organ injuries induced by tislelizumab in a lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) patient. A 68-year-old man had undergone neoadjuvant chemotherapy with...

With organ transplantation facing many dilemmas, tissue and organ regeneration as an alternative has bright prospects. In regenerative medicine, Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology and stem cells has been widely applied to the treatment of diseases related to tissue or organ replacement in dentistry, respectively. However, there are very few...

Metabolic dysfunction‐associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a rapidly increasing chronic disease worldwide, particularly among patients with type 2 diabetes. Its severe form, metabolic dysfunction‐associated steatohepatitis (MASH), is also on the rise. The treatment of MASLD and MASH poses significant challenges. Thyroid hormones and their...

Protein glycosylation has been considered as a fundamental phenomenon shared by all domains of life. In Helicobacter pylori, glycosylation of flagellins A and B with pseudaminic acid have been rigorously confirmed and shown to be essential for flagella assembly and bacterial colonization. In addition to flagellins, several other proteins including...

Background Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is essential for the formation of membraneless organelles and significantly influences cellular compartmentalization, chromatin remodeling, and gene regulation. Previous research has highlighted the critical function of liquid-liquid biopolymers in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)....

Glucose‐regulated protein 78 kDa (GRP78), a key marker of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS), is upregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues, but its role in hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐induced tumorigenesis remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of GRP78 to HBV‐associated tumor development and explore the ERS pathw...

This study assessed the effectiveness of case management compared to that of standard care in improving treatment outcomes for first-time antiretroviral therapy (ART) patients in Liangshan Prefecture, China. First-time ART patients (total n = 828) were divided into the Standard Care Group (SCG, n = 419) and Case Management Group (CMG, n = 409). At...

Background Data on risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) between non-obese and obese non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients are limited. We aimed to reveal the risk difference of incident CKD between non-obese and obese NAFLD patients. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases for studies which reported...

Organ fibrosis is a pathological process characterized by the inability of normal tissue cells to regenerate sufficiently to meet the dynamic repair demands of chronic injury, resulting in excessive extracellular matrix deposition and ultimately leading to organ dysfunction. Despite the increasing depth of research in the field of organ fibrosis an...

Background Hepatitis C virus (HCV) eradication with sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (SOF/VEL) represents a significant advancement, offering hope for eliminating the virus in diverse patient populations. But real-world data on its effectiveness and safety remains scarce for patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) in China, especially those with HCV GT3b, ci...

Background The impact of lactate-to-albumin ratio (LAR) on the outcome of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is scant. Aims To investigate the relationship between LAR and short-term prognosis in patients with COSSH (Chinese Group on the Study of Severe Hepatitis B) ACLF. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted in patients with COSS...

Background Risk factors that influence the outcome of patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) are not fully understood. The systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) is an independent prognostic factor for multiple diseases. However, the impact of the SII on the outcome of liver fibrosis is unclear. Methods This prospective real-world study enrolle...

Niemann-Pick Type C1 (NPC1) plays a significant role in the development of liver diseases and liver cancer. Our objective was to investigate the involvement of NPC1 in regulating liver cancer development. We observed that high levels of NPC1 expression in tumor tissues from patients with liver cancer were associated with a poor prognosis. Through i...

Metabolism, including glycolysis, oxidative phosphorylation, fatty acid oxidation, and other metabolic pathways, impacts the phenotypes and functions of immune cells. The metabolic regulation of the immune system is important in the pathogenesis and progression of numerous diseases, such as cancers, autoimmune diseases and metabolic diseases. The c...

Background Epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) is central to HCC metastasis, in which RNA‐binding proteins (RBPs) play a key role. Methods To explore the role of RBPs in metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), whole transcriptome sequencing was conducted to identify differential RBPs between HCC with metastasis and HCC without metastasis...

The systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) has been identified as an independent prognostic factor for multiple diseases. However, the impact of SII on outcome of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is scant. A retrospective study enrolled patients with ACLF treated with artificial liver support system. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) (knots at t...

Background Sleep disorders are one of the major public health problems, which can potentially induce inflammation and exacerbate disease activity, resulting in compromised sleep quality. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors associated with sleep disorders among patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods Betw...

The global burden of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains high, with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients facing a significantly increased risk of developing cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The ultimate objective of antiviral therapy is to achieve a sterilizing cure for HBV. This necessitates the elimination of intrahepatic covalen...

Background: We aim to investigate the characteristics of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in patients with HBV-related acute on chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF). Methods: A total of 44 patients with probable IPA were selected as the case group, and another 88 patients without lung infections were chosen as the control group. Results: HBV-ACLF...

Background Mycobacterium tilburgii is a nonculturable, nontuberculous mycobacterium that occasionally causes serious infections in individuals with immune deficiencies. Owing to its nonculturable nature, its antimicrobial susceptibility has not been assessed, and the optimal treatment regimen is unclear. Herein, we report a case of disseminated M....

Introduction Acute hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is a self-limiting disease, but HEV superinfection in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may lead to acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) and significantly increase short-term mortality. Diagnosis and comprehensive management of these patients remain in a dilemma. Case pres...

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignancy globally, often associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Galectin-3 (Gal-3), a multifunctional β-galactoside-binding protein, has been implicated in liver diseases. This study aimed to investigate the role of Gal-3 in HBV replication and hepatic inflammation and evaluate its...

Helicobacter pylori has been recognized not only as a causative agent of a spectrum of gastroduodenal diseases including chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma, and gastric cancer, but also as the culprit in several extra-gastric diseases. However, the association of H. pylori infection with extra-gastric diseas...

Objective Hepatitis B virus-associated acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) has a high mortality rate due to severe liver function disorder, extremely poor liver regeneration capacity, and dysregulated immune responses, thus new treatment measures are urgently needed to improve the therapeutic effect. This study aimed to evaluate the effective...

Introduction: Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) encompasses a spectrum of liver conditions, including liver steatosis, alcoholic hepatitis (AH), fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). microRNAs (miRNAs) have garnered significant interest as potential biomarkers for ALD. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochra...

Background Elevated international normalized ratio of prothrombin time (PT-INR) is one of the key characteristics of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). Whether the staging of PT-INR has the ability to screen out subgroups of ACLF patients who would be more eligible for artificial liver support system (ALSS) treatment has not been studied in det...

Background The progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is related to macrophage polarization (MP). Our aim was to identify genes associated with MP in HCC patients and develop a prognostic model based on these genes. Results We successfully developed a prognostic model consisting of six MP-related genes (SCN4A, EBF3, ADGRB2, HOXD9, CLEC1B, a...

Background and Aims Acute liver failure (ALF) is a life-threatening clinical problem with limited treatment options. Administration of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) may be a promising approach for ALF. This study aimed to explore the role of hUC-MSCs in the treatment of ALF and the underlying mechanisms. Methods A mouse mo...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a serious global health problem, and chronic HBV infection significantly increases the risk of liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and even hepatocellular carcinoma in patients. Current first-line therapeutics such as nucleos(t)ide analogues and interferons are unable to completely clear cccDNA, so the vast majority of p...

The regulation of carbon metabolism and virulence is critical for the rapid adaptation of pathogenic bacteria to host conditions. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, RccR is a transcriptional regulator of genes involved in primary carbon metabolism and is associated with bacterial resistance and virulence, although the exact mechanism is unclear. Our study...

The common adverse effects and the complicated administration of tetracycline and metronidazole greatly affect the clinical application of the classical bismuth quadruple therapy (BQT) for Helicobacter pylori eradication. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of minocycline/amoxicillin-based BQT for H. pylori eradication. First...

Background Patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are reported to have a higher risk of osteoporosis/fractures; however, the causal relationship remains unclear. Methods Publicly available genome‐wide association studies (GWASs) were used for Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. GWASs of NAFLD and fractures were obtained from the...

Background HBV infection is the leading risk factor for HCC. HBV infection has been confirmed to be associated with the exhaustion status of CD8⁺ T cells and immunotherapeutic efficacy in HCC. In this study, we aimed to investigate the prognostic value of the CD8⁺ T-cell exhaustion signature and immunotherapy response in patients with HBV-related H...

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which affects approximately 25% of the global population, is an urgent health issue leading to various metabolic comorbidities. Circular RNAs (circRNAs), covalently closed RNA molecules, are characterized by ubiquity, diversity, stability, and conservatism. Indeed, they participate in various biological pro...

Stem cell therapy holds great promise for future clinical practice for treatment of advanced liver diseases. However, the fate of stem cells after transplantation, including the distribution, viability, and the cell clearance, has not been fully elucidated. Herein, recent advances regarding the imaging tools for stem cells tracking mainly in chroni...

Background Helicobacter pylori lipopolysaccharide (LPS) structures vary among strains of different geographic origin. The aim of this study was to characterize the LPS O-antigen profiles of H. pylori strains isolated from Southwest China, and to further analyze the association of Lewis antigen expression with clinical outcomes and antibiotic resist...

Background Liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs) play an important role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the mechanisms that link LCSCs to HCC metastasis remain largely unknown. This study aims to reveal the contributions of NRCAM to LCSC function and HCC metastasis, and further explore its mechanism in detail. Methods 117 HCC and 29 non-HCC patie...

Background Hyperbilirubinemia occurs when the liver fails to process bilirubin properly. A disproportionate increase in direct bilirubin indicates a decreased ability of the hepatocytes to uptake and/or convert bilirubin, which may impact the prognosis of patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). However, the association of direct biliru...

Epstein‒Barr virus (EBV) is a DNA virus that belongs to the human B lymphotropic herpesvirus family and is highly prevalent in the human population. Once infected, a host can experience latent infection because EBV evades the immune system, leading to hosts harboring the virus for their lifetime. EBV is associated with many diseases and causes sign...

Tetracycline repressor (TetR) family regulators (TFRs) are the largest group of DNA-binding transcription factors and are widely distributed in bacteria and archaea. TFRs play vital roles in controlling the expression of various genes and regulating diverse physiological processes. Recently, a TFR protein Pseudomonas virulence regulator A (PvrA), w...

Key Clinical Message We report a young man with isolated elevated AST. He had no other evidence of liver or other related diseases. All the tests and examination reports were negative. The final diagnosis of macro‐AST was confirmed by PEG precipitation tests. Abstract Elevated liver enzymes, such as alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate ami...

Background Stem cells play a therapeutic role mainly through immunoregulation. However, the immunomodulatory function of stem cells may be affected by inflammation-related factors in patients’ serum. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the possible mechanism by which acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) patient serum influences the efficacy...

Liver X receptor α (LXRα), a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily, is identified as a protein activated by ligands that interacts with the promoters of specific genes. It regulates cholesterol, bile acid, and lipid metabolism in normal physiological processes, and it participates in the development of some related diseases. However, many stud...

Background Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common chronic liver disease that affects approximately one-quarter of the global population and is becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide. The lack of current noninvasive tools and efficient treatment is recognized as a significant barrier to the clinical management of these conditions. E...

Helicobacter pylori has a unique lipopolysaccharide structure that is essential in maintaining its cell envelope integrity and imbues the bacterium with natural resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs). Our group has recently elucidated the complete set of LPS glycosyltransferase genes in H. pylori reference strain G27. Here, with a se...

In the past few years, liquid-gated graphene field-effect transistors (LG-GFETs) have been widely used in biological detection due to their unique advantages. An accurate transistor model is the basis of biological detection circuit design, however, the reported GFET models are mainly focusing on solid-gated GFETs. Therefore, it is essential to con...

Helicobacter pylori unique lipopolysaccharide structure is essential in maintaining the cell envelop integrity and renders the bacterium natural resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs). Our group has recently elucidated the complete set of LPS glycosyltransferase genes in H. pylori reference strain G27. Here, with a series of 8 system...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most prevalent malignant tumors worldwide that poses a significant threat to human health. The multifunctional regulator known as Hepatitis B virus X-protein (HBx) interacts with host factors, modulating gene transcription and signaling pathways and c...

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is currently the most common cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. Early identification and prompt treatment are critical to optimize patient management and improve long-term prognosis. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) and circular RNA (circRNA) are recently emerging non-coding RNAs, and are highly stable a...

This study aims to clarify host factors of IFN treatment in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients by screening the differentially expressed genes of IFN pathway CHB patients with different response to interferon (IFN) therapy. Three cases were randomly selected in IFN-responding CHB patients (Rs), non-responding CHB patients (NRs) and...

Background Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a grave nosocomial pathogen that persistently inhabits the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and causes various chronic infections. The bacterial toxin–antitoxin (TA) system is associated with latent and long-term infections, but the underlying mechanisms remain to be fully characterized. Methods We h...

Ectopic fat deposition in the liver, known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), affects up to 30% of the worldwide population. miRNA-122, the most abundant liver-specific miRNA, protects hepatic steatosis and inhibits cholesterol and fatty acid synthesis in NAFLD. Previously, we have shown that compared with its expression in healthy contr...

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the rifamycin cross-resistance in Helicobacter pylori, and whether the use of rifampicin E-test strips to screen H. pylori rifabutin resistance is appropriate. Methods A total of 89 H. pylori isolates were included. Rifampicin minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were obtained by E-test, while t...

Background Helicobacter pylori eradication regimens should be guided by antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The objective of this study was to evaluate the molecular-based Mosprie assay for detecting H. pylori resistance to clarithromycin and levofloxacin using gastric biopsies. Methods A total of 185 culture-positive frozen gastric biopsies wer...

Background Helicobacter pylori infection is an infectious disease and thus the eradication treatment should be guided by susceptibility testing. This study aimed to assess the applicability of broth microdilution as a routine susceptibility testing method for H. pylori. Methods Susceptibility profiles of clarithromycin (CLR) and levofloxacin (LEV)...

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, a type of cellular stress, always occurs when unfolded or misfolded proteins accumulating in the ER exceed the protein folding capacity. Because of the demand for rapid viral protein synthesis after viral infection, viral infections become a risk factor for ER stress. The hepatocyte is a cell with large and well-d...

N-acetylhexosaminidases (EC3.2.1.52), which belong to the glycosyl hydrolase family GH20, are important enzymes for oligosaccharides modification. Numerous microbial β-N-acetylhexosaminidases have been investigated for applications in biology, biomedicine and biotechnology. Akkermansia muciniphila is an anaerobic intestinal commensal bacterium whic...

Wilson's disease is an autosomal recessive inherited disease with congenital copper metabolism disorder, characterized by decreased ceruloplasmin and increased urine copper, which can involve multiple organs. This case was complicated by iron overload, which is of great value in differentiating hereditary hemochromatism. When Wilson's disease prese...

Background: Hereditary spherocytosis (HS) is not a rare disease in the department of hematology; however, in the late stage of the disease, patients often have very severe cholestasis and are referred to the department of hepatology. Hepatologists may have trouble determining the source of cholestasis, causing treatment difficulties. Case descrip...

Background The association between hepatitis B and concomitant diseases, such as fatty liver, T2DM, MetS, and Hp infection, remains unclear. Aim The present study was to illustrate the association and explore the co-contribution on abnormal transaminase and progression of liver stiffness. Methods A total of 95,998 participants underwent HBsAg scr...

Aim: USP18 is a type of IFN-stimulated gene, which is associated with virological responses to IFN therapy in HBV (hepatitis B virus). However, its detailed molecular mechanism needs to be explored. Materials & methods: With HBV replication cells and mouse models, the USP18 was overexpressed or inhibited, followed by treatment with IFN or Poly (I:C...

Background Acute liver failure (ALF) and acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) are the two most common subtypes of liver failure. They are both life-threatening clinical problems with high short-term mortality. Although liver transplantation is an effective therapeutic, its application is limited due to the shortage of donor organs. Given that both...

Background: Albuvirtide (ABT), a fusion inhibitor against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, has good efficacy and tolerability for HIV treatment. However, there is a paucity of data regarding ABT-based regimen as second-line therapy. This current study evaluated the efficacy and safety of switching to ABT + ritonavir-boosted lopinavir...