ARG1, which encodes Arginase1, is expressed in the liver cytoplasm and plays a major role in the hepatic urea cycle. The past research works shed light on the fact that ARG1 participates in anti-inflammation, tumor immunity, and immunosuppression-related diseases. Nevertheless, the concrete role and clinical significance of ARG1 in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unclear. Herein, we aimed at examining the expression and clinicopathological significance of ARG1 in HCC, together with determining the effect of ARG1 on the progression and metastasis of HCC. In the current study, evaluation of the expression of ARG1 and clinicopathological significance of ARG1 was carried out in the human HCC tissues microarray, and the ARG1 overexpression vector and shRNA-ARG1 plasmids were constructed for the assessment of the concrete effect of ARG1 on cellular behaviors of Huh7 cells. As our data revealed, ARG1 was significantly downregulated in HCC, and the higher expression of ARG1 was positively correlated with more aggressive tumor growth, size, ALT, and GGT level. Significantly, we found that the high expression of ARG1 was correlated with poor DFS of HCC patients. Besides, in vitro study revealed that overexpression of ARG1 could enhance arginase activity, cell viability, migration, and invasion of Huh7 cells, and loss-of-function of ARG1 by shRNA interference could inhibit these cellular behaviors. Additionally, overexpression of ARG1 led to a significant increase in the expression of Vimentin, N-cadherin, andβ-catenin both at protein and mRNA levels, which promotes the EMT process. On the other hand, these proteins' expression was significantly downregulated in ARG1 silenced Huh7 cells. Besides, the level of E-cadherin protein was upregulated in ARG1 knocked down cells. In conclusion, ARG1 might play a pivotal role as an oncogene in the progression of HCC through promoting the EMT process.

Syphilitic hepatitis in adults is not frequently found in the population and is easily misdiagnosed. The incidence of viral hepatitis is increasing year by year, concomitantly increasing the importance of obtaining a systematic understanding of the clinical features and treatment strategies for this disease. There is, however, a lack of published definitive data regarding the clinical characteristics, diagnosis and standard treatment options for this disease. Searches were made using the MEDLINE database of PubMed and OVID for syphilitic hepatitis publications from 1951 to 2017 in an attempt to analyze and summarize the clinical characteristics.

Procalcitonin (PCT) is a widely used biomarker for the diagnosis of bacterial infections. It is produced by various organs and the liver is considered to be the most important site of production. Severe liver dysfunction has been shown to influence PCT levels. Patients with no sources of infection who have liver disease are observed to have increased serum levels of PCT, thereby reducing the diagnostic utility and value within this particular patient subset. Here, we have summarized the relationship between PCT and liver disease, including liver cirrhosis, liver failure, and liver transplantation.