Hepatitis A, an acute usually self limiting infection of the liver is one of the most common vaccine-preventable infectious disease in the world. Effective vaccines which provide long term immunity against hepatitis A have been available since 1992. They are of known good quality, well tolerated with no serious adverse events and have been successfully used to protect different populations from infection as well as interrupt outbreak in closed communities. Mathematical models estimate the long term persistence of antiHAV antibodies to be more than 25 years. Vaccination efforts should be supplemented by health education and improved sanitation. Planning for large scale immunization programmes against hepatitis A should take into consideration epidemiological and cost benefit studies.
To determine the seroprevalence of anti-hepatitis A virus (HAV) antibodies in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) and to justify the need for hepatitis A vaccination.
Clinacanthans nutans (Burm. f.) Lindau is a popular medicinal vegetable in Southern Asia, and its extracts have displayed significant anti-proliferative effects on cancer cells in vitro. However, the underlying mechanism for this effect has yet to be established. This study investigated the antitumor and immunomodulatory activity of C. nutans (Burm. f.) Lindau 30% ethanol extract (CN30) in vivo. CN30 was prepared and its main components were identified using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). CN30 had a significant inhibitory effect on tumor volume and weight. Hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) staining and TUNEL assay revealed that hepatoma cells underwent significant apoptosis with CN30 treatment, while expression levels of proliferation markers PCNA and p-AKT were significantly decreased when treated with low or high doses of CN30 treatment. Western blot analysis of PAPR, caspase-3, BAX, and Bcl2 also showed that CN30 induced apoptosis in hepatoma cells. Furthermore, intracellular staining analysis showed that CN30 treatment increased the number of IFN-γ⁺ T cells and decreased the number of IL-4⁺ T cells. Serum IFN-γ and interleukin-2 levels also significantly improved. Our findings indicated that CN30 demonstrated antitumor properties by up-regulating the immune response, and warrants further evaluation as a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment and prevention of cancers.