Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Letters to the Editors Letter: apoptosis and hepatic fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B J. Kountouras, K. Patsiaoura, C. Zavos, D. Chatzopoulos, P. Katsinelos, N. Tantsi, S. A. Polyzos, O. Giouleme, E. Gigi, G. Deretzi, C. Simeonidou, N. Grigoriadis & P. Boura Department of Medicine, Second Medical Clinic, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokration Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece. E-mail: [email protected] doi:10.1111/apt.12643
SIRS, Chao et al.’s systematic review and meta-analysis1 concluded that significant hepatic fibrosis may be present in approximately one-fifth of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with only normal alanine transaminase (ALT) levels. However, the authors did not consider any mechanism(s) explaining the aforementioned results. In this regard, our own preliminary pilot study, published in 1999,2 reported comparable results in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative CHB asymptomatic carriers with persistent normal ALΤ levels (
Letters to the Editors Letter: apoptosis and hepatic fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B J. Kountouras, K. Patsiaoura, C. Zavos, D. Chatzopoulos, P. Katsinelos, N. Tantsi, S. A. Polyzos, O. Giouleme, E. Gigi, G. Deretzi, C. Simeonidou, N. Grigoriadis & P. Boura Department of Medicine, Second Medical Clinic, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokration Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece. E-mail: [email protected] doi:10.1111/apt.12643
SIRS, Chao et al.’s systematic review and meta-analysis1 concluded that significant hepatic fibrosis may be present in approximately one-fifth of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with only normal alanine transaminase (ALT) levels. However, the authors did not consider any mechanism(s) explaining the aforementioned results. In this regard, our own preliminary pilot study, published in 1999,2 reported comparable results in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative CHB asymptomatic carriers with persistent normal ALΤ levels (
