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Interleukin‐8 and hIRH (SDF1‐α/PBSF) mRNA expression and histological activity index in patients with chronic hepatitis C
Author(s) -
Shimoda Katsuhiro,
Begum Nasim Ara,
Shibuta Kenji,
Mori Masaki,
Bonkovsky Herbert L.,
Banner Barbara F.,
Barnard Graham F.
Publication year - 1998
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.510280116
Subject(s) - chemokine , in vivo , messenger rna , inflammation , microbiology and biotechnology , in vitro , bile duct , biology , pathology , immunology , medicine , gene , biochemistry
Recombinant h uman i ntercrine r educed in h epatomas (hIRH)/ s tromal cell‐ d erived f actor 1 (SDF1‐α)/ p re‐ B ‐cell growth‐ s timulating f actor (PBSF), a new chemokine, exhibits an in vitro chemotaxis to neutrophils and a mixed in vivo chemotactic activity to neutrophils, lymphocytes, and monocytes in a rat intradermal injection model. We have investigated the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of interleukin‐8 (IL‐8) and hIRH, in chronic hepatitis C of differing severity. Levels of expression of IL‐8 and hIRH mRNA obtained from 37 human liver biopsy samples were measured by reverse‐transcription and semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) amplification. We examined the correlation between mRNA expression and components of the histological activity index (HAI). Patients with HAI ≥ 8 had a significantly higher corrected IL‐8 mRNA expression ratio (0.24 ± 0.13 [mean ± SD]; n = 20) than those with HAI ≤ 7 (0.05 ± 0.03; n = 17; P < .0001). Additionally, IL‐8 mRNA expression was strongly associated with the severity of portal inflammation (PI) (high PI vs. low PI, 0.22 ± 0.14 vs. 0.05 ± 0.04; P < .0001) and with the presence of bile duct lesions (0.29 ± 0.15 vs. 0.11 ± 0.1; P < .01). In contrast, hIRH mRNA expression was not associated with the total HAI, any components of the HAI, or bile duct inflammation or injury. These results suggest that hIRH, although having the ‐CXC‐, alpha chemokine motif, and exhibiting in vivo and in vitro inflammatory activity as does IL‐8, plays a different role from IL‐8 in hepatic inflammation and injury. IL‐8 expression is directly associated with inflammation in patients with chronic hepatitis C, while hIRH expression does not correlate with histopathological severity of inflammation.