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High cholestanol and low campesterol‐to‐sitosterol ratio in serum of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis before liver transplantation
Author(s) -
Nikkilä Katriina,
Höckerstedt Krister,
Miettinen Tatu A.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.1840130409
Subject(s) - cholestanol , liver transplantation , campesterol , primary biliary cirrhosis , medicine , gastroenterology , cirrhosis , transplantation , cholesterol , sterol
Serum levels of cholesterol precursors (squalene, Δ 8 ‐cholestenol, desmosterol and lathosterol), plant sterols (campesterol and sitosterol), cholestanol and cholestanol/noncholesterol sterol ratios were related to liver damage and liver transplantation indications in healthy controls (n = 26) and in 31 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis divided into group I (S‐bilirubin < 21 μmol/L; n = 14), group II (S‐bilirubin 21 to 108 μmol/L; n = 7) and group III (elected for liver transplantation; S‐bilirubin 109 to 520 μmol/L; n = 10). The mean sérum respective lathosterol levels in controls and in group I were three and two times higher than those in groups II and III, respectively. The plant sterol contents were higher in group II than in groups I and III and the campesterol/sitosterol ratios were lowest in group III. The serum cholestanol levels were high even in group I (i.e., in patients without icterus) and increased progressively to group III, up to 6 and 13 times those in group I and the control group, respectively. The cholestanol/noncholesterol sterol ratios increased progressively from the controls to groups I, II and III. The serum cholestanol levels were positively related to serum bilirubin levels in all primary biliary cirrhosis patients (n = 31, r = 0.906) and to the plant sterol levels in the control group and group I, but significantly negatively in group III. The cholestanol vs. precursor sterol correlations were negative in most cases. In conclusion, our findings suggest that determination of serum cholestanol and lathosterol levels and cholestanol/plant sterol, campesterol/sitosterol and campesterol/lathosterol ratios might aid staging of liver damage in primary biliary cirrhosis. The high serum cholestanol level associated with the low campesterol/sitosterol ratio could be a significant indicator of end‐stage primary biliary cirrhosis and, finally, of the need for liver transplantation. (H EPATOLOGY 1991;13:663–669.)