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CTHRC1 expression in primary biliary cholangitis
Author(s) -
Li Yi Kang,
Li Yan Mei,
Li You,
Wei Yi Ran,
Zhang Jun,
Li Bo,
You Zheng Rui,
Chen Yong,
Huang Bing Yuan,
Miao Qi,
Wang Qi Xia,
Peng Yan Shen,
Gershwin M. Eric,
Tang Ru Qi,
Bian Zhao Lian,
Ma Xiong
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of digestive diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.684
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1751-2980
pISSN - 1751-2972
DOI - 10.1111/1751-2980.12791
Subject(s) - medicine , primary sclerosing cholangitis , hepatic fibrosis , gastroenterology , fibrosis , hepatic stellate cell , biomarker , immunohistochemistry , inflammation , chronic liver disease , pathology , disease , cirrhosis , biology , biochemistry
Objectives Collagen triple helix repeat containing‐1 (CTHRC1) is a highly conserved extracellular matrix glycoprotein that is overexpressed in two murine models of cholestatic liver fibrosis. Elevated CTHRC1 has been found to attenuate liver fibrosis in these murine models, thus we aimed to study the expression of CTHRC1 in patients with cholestatic liver diseases and its correlation with hepatic conditions. Methods Ninety patients with chronic liver disease, including 48 had primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), 18 had primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and 24 had chronic hepatitis B (CHB), together with five healthy controls (HC), were recruited to this study. Participants’ liver sections were analyzed using immunohistochemistry. Serum CTHRC1 levels in another cohort of 59 patients with PBC and 10 age‐matched HC were detected by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Results CTHRC1 protein was primarily expressed in activated hepatic stellate cells (HSC). CTHRC1 expression was significantly increased in the PBC and PSC groups, compared with the HC and CHB groups. Importantly, the hepatic fibrosis stage of the PBC group was positively correlated with hepatic CTHRC1 expression ( r = 0.425, P = 0.003). Meanwhile, there were significant correlations between serum CTHRC1 levels and both the degrees of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis stage in the PBC group ( r = 0.300, P = 0.022; r = 0.321, P = 0.012). Conclusion CTHRC1 may play a role in hepatic fibrogenesis in PBC and that serum CTHRC1 may be a potential novel noninvasive biomarker in the assessment of liver fibrosis and inflammation.