ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the relationship between intrahepatic expression of interleukin-17 (IL-17) and liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Methods IL-17 expressions in livers with different inflammation activity grades and hepatic fibrosis stages from patients with chronic hepatitis B virus carriers (n= 30), chronic hepatitis B (CHB, n = 55), liver cirrhosis (LC, n=20) were measured by immunohistochemistry. Serum IL-17 and liver fibrosis indices of haluronic acid (HA), laminin (LN), type Ⅲ procollagen (PC Ⅲ ) and type Ⅳ collagen ( Ⅳ C) were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The differences between groups were compared by Kruskal-Wallis test, and the Mann-Whitney test, and the correlation analysis was done by Spearman test. Results Intrahepatic IL-17 expression in LC group was significantly higher than CHB group (x2 =25. 3982, P=0. 004), and that in CHB group was higher than chronic hepatitis B virus carriers group (x2 = 11. 5056, P= 0. 001). The inflammation activity grade and hepatic fibrosis stage were both positively correlated with IL-17 expression (r= 0.718, 0. 693, respectively; both P＜0.01). IL-17 mainly located in portal area and the expression was positively correlated with serum levels of HA, LN, PCⅢ and ⅣC (r=0. 793, 0. 834, 0. 722, 0. 883, respectively; all P＜0.01).Conclusion Intrahepatic IL-17 expression is closely correlated with liver inflammation activity grade and hepatic fibrosis stage.