ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the changes of peripheral blood expression levels of soluble fibrinogen-like protein 2 (sFGL2) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) before and after antiviral treatment.Methods From July 2013 to December 2014,initial CHB patients with entecavir antiviral therapy and healthy controls were enrolled.Clinical data at baseline and during follow-up were collected.Plasma levels of sFGL2 of all the included objects were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).All the patients received liver biopsy at baseline,and part of patients received a second liver biopsy at week 78 after treatment.The expression of sFGL2 in liver tissues were examined by immunohistochemistry.T test,Wilcoxon test and correlation analysis were performed for statistical analysis.Results A total of 71 CHB patients and 20 healthy controls were enrolled.At baseline,the level of plasma sFGL2 of CHB patients was significantly higher than healthy controls (105.6 μg/L (78.3 μg/L to 151.6 μg/L) vs 25.2 μg/L (18.8 μg/L to 34.3 μg/L),Z=-5.887,P＜ 0.01).The plasma sFGL2 level of patients with liver cirrhosis was 146.0 μg/L (111.3 μg/L to 166.8 μg/L),which was higher than that of patients without liver cirrhosis (79.0 μg/L (65.4 μg/L to 107.4 μg/L)),and the difference was statistically significant (Z=-4.912,P＜0.01).Plasma levels of sFGL2 were positively correlated with liver stiffness,liver inflammation and fibrosis stages (r=0.426,0.240 and 0.655;all P＜0.05).At 26 weeks and 52 weeks after treatment,the plasma levels of sFGL2 were 89.1 μg/L (69.8 μg/L to 125.5 μg/L) and 75.8 μg/L (53.4 μg/L to 98.9 μg/L),respectively,which gradually decreased compared with that at baseline (26 weeks vs baseline Z=-4.499,P＜0.01;52 weeks vs 26 weeks Z=-4.762,P＜0.01).Furthermore,at baseline the number of sFGL2 positive cells in the liver tissue of liver cirrhosis group was 33.0 ± 10.4,which was higher than that of non-liver cirrhosis group (17.6 ±6.7),and the difference was statistically significant (t=7.541,P＜0.01).Compared with that at baseline (24.5±2.0),the number of sFGL2 positive cells in liver tissue at week 78 after treatment decreased (11.3± 1.6),and the difference was statistically significant (t=11.980,P＜0.01).Conclusion Plasma level of sFGL2 is closely correlated with the degree of liver inflammation and fibrosis in CHB,and the plasma level of sFGL2 significantly decreases after long-term antiviral therapy.