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Liver cirrhosis remains a significant global public health concern, with liver transplantation standing as the foremost effective treatment currently available. Therefore, investigating the pathogenesis of liver cirrhosis and developing novel therapies is imperative. Mitochondrial dysfunction stands out as a pivotal factor in its development. This study aimed to elucidate the relationship between mitochondria dysfunction and liver cirrhosis using bioinformatic methods to unveil its pathogenesis. Initially, we identified 460 co-expressed differential genes (co-DEGs) from the GSE14323 and GSE25097 datasets, alongside their combined datasets. Functional analysis revealed that these co-DEGs were associated with inflammatory cytokines and cirrhosis-related signaling pathways. Utilizing weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WCGNA), we screened module genes, intersecting them with co-DEGs and oxidative stress-related mitochondrial genes. Two algorithms (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and SVE-RFE) were then employed to further analyze the intersecting genes. Finally, COX7A1 and IFI27 emerged as identifying genes for liver cirrhosis, validated through a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and related experiments. Additionally, immune infiltration highlighted a strong correlation between macrophages and cirrhosis, with the identifying genes (COX7A1 and IFI27) being significantly associated with macrophages. In conclusion, our findings underscore the critical role of oxidative stress-related mitochondrial genes (COX7A1 and IFI27) in liver cirrhosis development, highlighting their association with macrophage infiltration. This study provides novel insights into understanding the pathogenesis of liver cirrhosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of pegylated interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis C in China. Methods A search was performed using the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials ( Cochrane Library, Issue 11, 2012), OVID EBM Reviews, CNKI, and Wanfang database to identify relevant case - control studies of pegylated interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis C in China that were published from January 2002 to December 31, 2012. We screened the retrieved studies according to the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, evaluated the quality of included studies, and performed meta - analysis using the Cochrane Collaboration's RevMan 5 . 0 software. Results Eleven case - control studies involving 1106 patients with chronic hepatitis C were included. All included studies had a mean score of 1. 7 on the modified Jadad scale. The meta - analysis showed that the sustained virological response rate of patients was significantly higher in pegylated interferon group than in control group ( RR = 0 . 4 9, 95% CI = 0 . 4 3 - 0. 57, P < 0. 001 ) . There was one study indicating a higher rate of adverse reactions in the experimental group, but other studies revealed no significantly higher rate of adverse reactions in the experimental group compared with control group ; relevant meta - analysis was not performed due to the small number of patients who developed adverse reactions in both groups. Conclusion Proper use of pegylated interferon combined with ribavirin has good therapeutic efficacy in patients with chronic hepatitis C. However, its safety should be verified by more high - quality randomized controlled trials due to the limits of quantity and quality of included studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Accumulating evidence highlights the association between the gut microbiota and liver cirrhosis. However, the role of the gut microbiota in liver cirrhosis remains unclear., Methods: We first assessed the differences in the composition of the bacterial community between CCl4-induced liver cirrhosis and control mice using 16S rRNA sequencing. We then performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to reveal the underlying causal relationship between the gut microbiota and liver cirrhosis. Causal relationships were analyzed using primary inverse variance weighting (IVW) and other supplemental MR methods. Furthermore, fecal samples from liver cirrhosis patients and healthy controls were collected to validate the results of the MR analysis., Results: Analysis of 16S rRNA sequencing indicated significant differences in gut microbiota composition between the cirrhosis and control groups. IVW analyses suggested that Alphaproteobacteria, Bacillales, NB1n, Rhodospirillales, Dorea , Lachnospiraceae , and Rhodospirillaceae were positively correlated with the risk of liver cirrhosis, whereas Butyricicoccus , Hungatella , Marvinbryantia , and Lactobacillaceae displayed the opposite effects. However, the weighted median and MR-PRESSO estimates further showed that only Butyricicoccus and Marvinbryantia presented stable negative associations with liver cirrhosis. No significant heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy was observed in the sensitivity analysis. Furthermore, the result of 16S rRNA sequencing also showed that healthy controls had a higher relative abundance of Butyricicoccus and Marvinbryantia than liver cirrhosis patients., Conclusions: Our study provides new causal evidence for the link between gut microbiota and liver cirrhosis, which may contribute to the discovery of novel strategies to prevent liver cirrhosis., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflict of interests related to this publication., (© 2024 Authors.)