Reviewer's report
Title:A frequent variant in the human bile salt export pump gene ABCB11 is
associated with hepatitis C virus infection, but not liver stiffness in a German
population
Version: 1Date:30 November 2011
Reviewer: Bruno Stieger
Reviewer's report:
- Major Compulsory Revisions
none
- Minor Essential Revisions
background page 5: In my view the interpretation of ref 16 is not appropriate. Ref.
16. reported on interindividual variability of BSEP (and other canalicular ABC
transporters) protein expression in human liver samples, but not on drug-induced
cholestasis. Drug-induced cholestasis was studied in ref. 21.
results page 10: according to my counting, figure 1 gives 669 HCV patients not
649, as stated on page 10. Please clarify. Figure 1 needs a figure legend.
discussion page 11, end of first para. The p.444A variant of BSEP does not have
a lower pump activity (see ref. 21), but tends to have a lower expression level
resulting in a reduced canalicular bile salt transport capacity. This sentence
should be reworded.
discussion page 11, bottom of the page. Ref 26 does to my understanding not
investigate the role of FXR in the regulation of CYP7A1 and CYP8B1 gene
expression (not function what is implied by the term inhibition) but is a patient
study reporting primarily bile salt levels.
- Discretionary Revisions
background page 5: Pauli-Magnus and coworkers have reported on an
association of the p.444A variant of BSEP with intrahepatic cholestasis of
pregnancy, which was confirmed by the study in 17. The authors might include
this in the background.
results page 10: Cirrhosis was significantly associated with the age of patients.
Could this be related to a difference of the duration of chronic HCV infection, i.e.
older patients have a longer duration of the chronic infection than younger
patients? A comment on this issue, either in the
result or in the discussion section would be very valuable.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Reviewer's report
Title:A frequent variant in the human bile salt export pump gene ABCB11 is
associated with hepatitis C virus infection, but not liver stiffness in a German
population
Version: 1Date:30 November 2011
Reviewer: Bruno Stieger
Reviewer's report:
- Major Compulsory Revisions
none
- Minor Essential Revisions
background page 5: In my view the interpretation of ref 16 is not appropriate. Ref.
16. reported on interindividual variability of BSEP (and other canalicular ABC
transporters) protein expression in human liver samples, but not on drug-induced
cholestasis. Drug-induced cholestasis was studied in ref. 21.
results page 10: according to my counting, figure 1 gives 669 HCV patients not
649, as stated on page 10. Please clarify. Figure 1 needs a figure legend.
discussion page 11, end of first para. The p.444A variant of BSEP does not have
a lower pump activity (see ref. 21), but tends to have a lower expression level
resulting in a reduced canalicular bile salt transport capacity. This sentence
should be reworded.
discussion page 11, bottom of the page. Ref 26 does to my understanding not
investigate the role of FXR in the regulation of CYP7A1 and CYP8B1 gene
expression (not function what is implied by the term inhibition) but is a patient
study reporting primarily bile salt levels.
- Discretionary Revisions
background page 5: Pauli-Magnus and coworkers have reported on an
association of the p.444A variant of BSEP with intrahepatic cholestasis of
pregnancy, which was confirmed by the study in 17. The authors might include
this in the background.
results page 10: Cirrhosis was significantly associated with the age of patients.
Could this be related to a difference of the duration of chronic HCV infection, i.e.
older patients have a longer duration of the chronic infection than younger
patients? A comment on this issue, either in the
result or in the discussion section would be very valuable.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:A frequent variant in the human bile salt export pump gene ABCB11 is
associated with hepatitis C virus infection, but not liver stiffness in a German
population
Version: 1Date:30 November 2011
Reviewer: Bruno Stieger
Reviewer's report:
- Major Compulsory Revisions
none
- Minor Essential Revisions
background page 5: In my view the interpretation of ref 16 is not appropriate. Ref.
16. reported on interindividual variability of BSEP (and other canalicular ABC
transporters) protein expression in human liver samples, but not on drug-induced
cholestasis. Drug-induced cholestasis was studied in ref. 21.
results page 10: according to my counting, figure 1 gives 669 HCV patients not
649, as stated on page 10. Please clarify. Figure 1 needs a figure legend.
discussion page 11, end of first para. The p.444A variant of BSEP does not have
a lower pump activity (see ref. 21), but tends to have a lower expression level
resulting in a reduced canalicular bile salt transport capacity. This sentence
should be reworded.
discussion page 11, bottom of the page. Ref 26 does to my understanding not
investigate the role of FXR in the regulation of CYP7A1 and CYP8B1 gene
expression (not function what is implied by the term inhibition) but is a patient
study reporting primarily bile salt levels.
- Discretionary Revisions
background page 5: Pauli-Magnus and coworkers have reported on an
association of the p.444A variant of BSEP with intrahepatic cholestasis of
pregnancy, which was confirmed by the study in 17. The authors might include
this in the background.
results page 10: Cirrhosis was significantly associated with the age of patients.
Could this be related to a difference of the duration of chronic HCV infection, i.e.
older patients have a longer duration of the chronic infection than younger
patients? A comment on this issue, either in the
result or in the discussion section would be very valuable.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
assistant