Relationship between PD-1 expression in liver tissues with TCM syndromes and liver pathology in patients with chronic hepatitis B / 国际中医中药杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To discuss the relationship between the expression of programmed death-1 (PD-1) in liver with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndromes and pathological diagnosis in chronic hepatitis B.Methods 156 CHB patients treated in our hospital of infectious diseases department were recruited as an observation group. Based on the principle of informed voluntary and approved by the ethics committee, liver biopsy was adopted to make clear liver tissue pathology. According to TCM classification criteria, CHB patients were divided into five groups a blood stasis group, a damp heat resistance group, a liver and spleen deficiency group, a liver and kidney yin deficiency group, and a spleen and kidney yang deficiency group. In the same period, 12 healthy persons were recruited as a control group. The PD-1 expression was detected with immunohistochemical SP method, and the correlation between expression of PD-1 in liver tissue and TCM syndrome type and liver pathology was analyzed.Results Different degrees of positive cell expression were found in the liver tissue. With the liver inflammation and fibrosis severity, the number of PD-1 positive cells also increased. The PD-1 expression levels varied with mild, moderate, and severe CHB patients (0.24 ± 0.03, 0.36 ± 0.05 vs. 0.43 ± 0.05) , which were statistically significant (P<0.05) . PD-1 expression levels also varied among different TCM type CHB patients, of which, PD-1 expression of blood stasis type was the highest (0.35 ± 0.04), while the liver and spleen deficiency type was the lowest (0.23 ± 0.03).Conclusion The expression levels of PD-1 has a certain correlation with the patients illness, chronic mechanism, and TCM syndromes. CHB patients can be treated by controlling the expression of PD-1.