Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a disorder of unknown etiology in which immune-mediated liver injury progress to cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of the present study was to determine whether circulating soluble TIM3 (sTIM3) is elevated in patients with AIH patients and whether sTIM-3 levels are associated with clinical parameters of AIH.Methods
We enrolled 123 Japanese patients with AIH who were identified from the National Hospital Organization-AIH-liver-network database, as well as 32 patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), 30 patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and healthy control subjects. Serum sTIM-3 concentrations were quantified by ELISA.Results
Serum levels of sTIM-3 were significantly higher in AIH patients (median 4865 pg/ml; [interquartile range (IQR); 3122-7471]) compared to those in CHC (1026 pg/ml [IQR: 806-1283] p<0.001), PBC (2395 pg/ml [IQR: 2012-3422] p<0.001) or healthy controls (1285 pg/ml [IQR: 1098-1812] p<0.001). In AIH group, serum sTIM-3 were correlated with alanine aminotransferase (ALT), or total bilirubin (TB) and negatively correlated with serum levels of albumin (Alb). Serum levels of sTIM-3 were also strongly correlated with Mac-2 binding protein glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) levels, but did not correlate with the histological grade of liver fibrosis. Steroid treatment of AIH patients significantly reduced serum sTIM-3 levels (2147±623pg/ml versus 1321±378pg/ml, p<0.001).Conclusions
Circulating sTIM-3 levels were elevated in AIH patients and are associated with AIH disease activity and AIH-related liver damage. These findings indicate that serum sTIM-3 correlated with disease status of AIH and could be useful biomarkers to detect autoimmune-mediated liver injury. Our data suggest a possible link between the TIM-3/GAL-9 pathway and AIH severity or phenotype, and further investigations of the TIM-3 pathway and AIH pathophysiology is warranted.
SUBMITTER: Migita K
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7751864 | biostudies-literature | 2020
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Migita Kiyoshi K Nakamura Minoru M Aiba Yoshihiro Y Kozuru Hideko H Abiru Seigo S Komori Atsumasa A Fujita Yuya Y Temmoku Junpei J Asano Tomoyuki T Sato Shuzo S Furuya Makiko M Naganuma Atsushi A Yoshizawa Kaname K Shimada Masaaki M Ario Keisuke K Mannami Tomohiko T Kohno Hiroshi H Kaneyoshi Toshihiko T Komura Takuya T Ohira Hiromasa H Yatsuhashi Hiroshi H
PloS one 20201221 12
<h4>Background</h4>Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a disorder of unknown etiology in which immune-mediated liver injury progress to cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of the present study was to determine whether circulating soluble TIM3 (sTIM3) is elevated in patients with AIH patients and whether sTIM-3 levels are associated with clinical parameters of AIH.<h4>Methods</h4>We enrolled 123 Japanese patients with AIH who were identified from the National Hospital Organization-AIH- ...[more]