Background: Early detection of progressive liver damage in chronic liver disease (CLD) patients is crucial for better treatment response. Several studies have shown the association of microRNA (miRNA) in the progression of CLD in regulating cell proliferation, fibrosis, and apoptosis as well as in carcinogenesis.Objectives: The study was aimed at determining the expression of miRNA‐221 among different stages of fibrosis in CLD patients due to hepatitis B virus (HBV) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and thus evaluate its role as an early biomarker in CLD.Methods: A total of 100 participants (75 CLD patients and 25 healthy control) were recruited in this cross‐sectional study and divided into four groups, of which 25 as healthy control, 25 in CLD without fibrosis, 25 were CLD with fibrosis, and 25 were CLD with cirrhosis. Total RNA was extracted from plasma followed by cDNA synthesis, and finally, the expression of miRNA‐221 was analyzed for its diagnostic potential as a single biomarker using the qRT‐PCR method.Results: The plasma level of miRNA‐221 was significantly upregulated in different fibrosis stages of CLD (p < 0.05), and this upregulation was positively correlated with the progression of fibrosis (p < 0.05). Significantly increased expression of miRNA‐221 was found in NAFLD patients compared to HBV patients in the CLD without fibrosis patient group (p < 0.05), while expression of miRNA‐221 was significantly upregulated among HBV patients in the CLD with the fibrosis group. miRNA‐221 showed high diagnostic accuracy in discriminating different stages of fibrosis from healthy control (p < 0.05).Conclusion: miRNA‐221 may be used as a potential plasma biomarker for early prediction of fibrosis progression in CLD patients.

World Health Organization defines a rare diagnosis Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) as a persistent eosinophilia for 6 months and resulting in end-organ dysfunction. Most of the patients present with nonspecific symptoms, while others will present with symptoms of the affected organs, commonly those involving the heart, skin, or nervous system. Gastrointestinal or liver involvement is estimated to affect up to one-third of patients with HES, although patients with clinically significant disease are limited to case reports. This is the first report of a patient presenting with idiopathic HES related hepatitis and achalasia. Hypereosinophilic syndrome has been reported to be associated with hepatic dysfunction; liver histology is mainly characterized by a diffuse eosinophilic inflammatory infiltrate. A 49-yr-old woman, diagnosed as a case of idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome with bone marrow and pulmonary eosinophilic infiltrates associated with peripheral eosinophilia,high IgE level developed features of chronic gatrornteritis, hepatitis, with a significant eosinophil component. She responded well to systemic glucocorticoid and Imatinib therapy with normalization of liver function tests within a few weeks.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes chronic infections that mainly affect the liver leading to hepatic fibrosis followed by development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Several factors including HCV genotype have been proposed to associate with the clinical outcome of HCV infection.This study was aimed to determine whetherthere is any significant differencein HCV viral load and Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) in relation to genotypesin HCV infected Bangladeshi patients.After quantification of HCV viral load, 36 samples were randomly selected for HCV genotyping and ALT measurement.Themean HCV viral load of genotype 1 infected patients was 14.11±6.77[log10 (copies/ml)] while it was 12.80±2.05[log10 (copies/ml)] for genotype 3 infected patients. The mean ALT level of genotype 1 and genotype 3 infected patients were 51.2±34.4 U/L and 89.6±86.6U/L respectively. There was no significant statistical difference in serum ALT or plasma viral load between genotype 1 and genotype 3 infected patients.In HCV infection, genotype may have no relation to viral load and serum ALT level among Bangladeshi patients. Bangladesh J Med Microbiol 2017; 11 (1): 14-18