Khan M A, Poulos J E, Brunt E M, Li L, Solomon H, Britton R S, Bacon B R, Di Bisceglie A M
Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, 1402 South Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63104, USA.
Hepatogastroenterology. 2001 Jan-Feb;48(37):212-5.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: The mechanism of hepatic fibrogenesis with chronic viral hepatitis is not well understood. Persistent activation of hepatic stellate cells is felt to play a role in the development of fibrogenesis and progression to cirrhosis.
We determined the expression of hepatic alpha-smooth muscle actin, a marker of hepatic stellate cell activation, in 29 patients with chronic hepatitis C and varying degrees of liver injury and fibrosis. In addition to a baseline evaluation, we assessed the effect of interferon therapy on alpha-smooth muscle actin expression in 11 patients, including 6 with a sustained response to therapy. Specimens were evaluated by light microscopy for grade of inflammation and stage of fibrosis. Expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin was assessed semiquantitatively by immunohistochemical staining.
At baseline, all patients had alpha-smooth muscle actin expressed within the liver without an obvious correlation with the severity of liver injury. However, among sustained responders, a reduction in hepatic necroinflammatory activity was associated with a trend towards a decrease in alpha-smooth muscle actin expression. This however did not reach statistical significance.
Hepatic alpha-smooth muscle actin expression, as a marker of hepatic stellate cell activation appears reversible and tends to correlate with necroinflammatory activity.
背景/目的：慢性病毒性肝炎肝纤维化形成的机制尚未完全明确。肝星状细胞的持续激活被认为在纤维化形成及进展至肝硬化过程中起作用。
我们测定了29例慢性丙型肝炎且伴有不同程度肝损伤及纤维化患者肝脏α-平滑肌肌动蛋白（一种肝星状细胞激活的标志物）的表达。除了基线评估外，我们还评估了干扰素治疗对11例患者α-平滑肌肌动蛋白表达的影响，其中6例患者治疗后有持续应答。通过光学显微镜评估标本的炎症分级和纤维化分期。采用免疫组织化学染色半定量评估α-平滑肌肌动蛋白的表达。
基线时，所有患者肝脏均有α-平滑肌肌动蛋白表达，且与肝损伤严重程度无明显相关性。然而，在持续应答者中，肝脏坏死性炎症活动度降低与α-平滑肌肌动蛋白表达呈下降趋势相关。但这未达到统计学意义。
肝脏α-平滑肌肌动蛋白表达作为肝星状细胞激活的标志物似乎是可逆的，且往往与坏死性炎症活动度相关。
