Hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) is a rapidly progressing and frequently fatal condition. The aim of this study was to determine whether interleukin- (IL-) 33 and soluble ST2 (sST2) were associated with disease severity and mortality in HBV-ACLF. We found that plasma levels of sST2 but not IL-33 were higher in HBV-ACLF patients compared with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients and healthy controls. However, plasma levels of IL-33, TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-10 did not correlate with sST2 levels. Similarly, immunohistochemistry revealed low IL-33 expression and high ST2 expression in liver sections of patients with HBV-ACLF. Evaluation of dynamic changes of sST2 in HBV-ACLF showed that plasma sST2 levels increased over time in patients who died during the 180-day follow-up but decreased in those who survived. In addition, plasma sST2 level after week 1 correlated with disease severity, as assessed by total bilirubin, prothrombin time, and model for end-stage liver disease score. Results of Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that higher sST2 concentration (≥87 ng/mL) at week 3 was associated with poor survival. These findings indicate the potential usefulness of sST2 as a predictor of disease severity and in making treatment decisions for patients with HBV-ACLF.

Background Increasing evidence demonstrate that the gut microbiota is involved in the pathogenesis of liver diseases, and faecal microbiota transplantation is considered to be a promising new treatment option. However, there are no reports on the intestinal flora of asymptomatic HBV carriers using next-generation sequencing. This study intends to investigate the potential role of the intestinal microflora in predicting the progression of Hepatitis B patients in different non-cancerous stages. Results A total of 266 patients with different stages of Hepatitis B and 31 healthy controls were included in this study. Some of the subjects (217 cases) underwent 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Compared with the control group (CK), the α diversity of patients in Group A (HBV carrier) slightly increased, while that of patients in the other three groups decreased. Each group of patients, especially those in Group C (cirrhosis) and Group D (acute-on-chronic liver failure), could be separated from the CK using weighted UniFrac PCoA and ANOSIM. LEfSe revealed that 40 taxa belonging to three phyla had an LDA larger than 4. In addition to the comparison between Group B (chronic Hepatitis B) and Group C, the specific flora and potential taxonomic function were also identified. Different microbial communities were found to be highly correlated with clinical indicators and the Child-Pugh scores. Changes in the microbial community were highly related to the alternations of host metabolism, which in turn, was related to the development of Hepatitis B. Our analysis identified a total of 47 strains with potential biomarker functions at all levels except for the phylum level. Conclusions Faecal microbiota transplantation of some potential beneficial bacteria can change with the occurrence of disease, and HBV carriers might be the most suitable donors.

BackgroundStaphylococcal food poisoning (SFP) is one of the most common food-borne diseases in the world. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and spa typing methods were used to characterize Staphylococcus aureus isolates from food surveillance during 2013–2015 in southwest China, and Staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing was used for methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Isolates were also examined for their antibiotic resistance and carriage of virulence genes.ResultsIsolation rate of S. aureus was 2.60% during the three years’ surveillance and 29.50% of them were MRSA. All the S. aureus had hla genes (100%), 14.34% of the strains had tst, and 16.73% had PVL. 163 PFGE-SmaI patterns, 41 ST types and 36 spa types were obtained for all the S. aureus. Among them, ST6-t701 (13.15%), ST7-t091 (12.75%), ST59-t437 (9.96%) and ST5-t002 (7.57%) were the prevalent genotypes. Most of MRSA in this study belonged to SCCmec IV and V, accounted for 74.32% and 20.27% respectively. ST6-SCCmec IV-t701 (36.50%) was the most prevalent clone among isolates from food, followed by ST59-SCCmec V-t437 (20.30%), ST5-SCCmec IV-t002 (12.20%) and ST59-SCCmec IV-t437 (12.20%). Some strains had the identical PFGE patterns, ST and spa types with isolates from patients.ConclusionsS. aureus isolated from food in southwest China displayed heterogeneity. Isolates had the same genotype profiles with isolates from patients, indicating high homology.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12866-018-1239-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundForkhead box G1 (FOXG1) is a member of the Fox transcription factor family involved in regulation of many cancers. However, the role of FOXG1 in hepatocellular carcinogenesisis largely unclear. The present study aimed at examining the biological function and underlying mechanism of FOXG1 on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor metastasis as well as its clinical significance.MethodsLevels of FOXG1 were determined by immunohistochemical and real-time PCR analysis in HCC cell lines and human HCC samples. The effect of FOXG1 on cancer cell invasion and metastasis was investigated in vitro and in vivo in either FOXG1-silenced or overexpressing human HCC cell lines. Immunoprecipitation and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays were performed to investigate the interaction of FOXG1, β-catenin, TCF4 and the effect on Wnt target-gene promoters.ResultsIn human HCC, the level of FOXG1 progressively increased from surrounding non tumorous livers to HCC, reaching the highest levels in metastatic HCC. Furthermore, expression levels of FOXG1 directly correlated with cancer cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype. In FOXG1-overexpressing cells, FOXG1 promotes the stabilization and nuclear accumulation of β-catenin by directly binding to β-catenin and it associates with the lymphoid enhancer factor/T cell factor proteins (LEF/TCFs) on Wnt responsive enhancers (WREs) in chromatin.ConclusionsThe results show that FOXG1 plays a key role in mediating cancer cell metastasis through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in HCC cells and predicts HCC prognosis after surgery. Targeting FOXG1 may provide a new approach for therapeutic treatment in the future.