Guo Guoning, Cao Dayan, Xu Huan, Ruan Zhihua, Fei Lei, Xie Zhunyi, Wu Yuzhang, Chen Yongwen
Department of Emergency, South-West Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
Pathol Int. 2012 Oct;62(10):665-74. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1827.2012.02856.x.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major public health problem, and HBV-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) has an extremely poor prognosis due to a lack of effective treatments. B7-H3 and B7-H4 are two novel members of the B7 superfamily that are actively involved in regulating the pathogenesis of infectious diseases. However, the intrahepatic expression of both members in HBV-ACLF patients has yet to be described. In this study, we analyzed the expression of B7-H3 and B7-H4 in HBV-ACLF biopsies by immunohistochemistry. Our results showed that both members were observed in all HBV-ACLF samples, and their expression was chiefly observed on infiltrating inflammatory cells and the damaged bile ducts. Immunofluorescence double staining showed that B7-H4 was expressed chiefly on CD3(+) T cells, CD68(+) macrophages, CK-18(+) bile ducts, and CD31(+) endothelial cells, while B7-H3 was found on all cell types detected. The expression of the programmed death (PD)-1 ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2, was also detected in these liver tissues and they were found to be co-expressed with B7-H3 and B7-H4. These results suggest that the B7-family signaling is most likely to affect the pathogenesis of this disease, and a clear understanding of their functional roles may further elucidate the disease process.
乙型肝炎病毒(HBV)是一个主要的公共卫生问题,而由于缺乏有效的治疗方法,与HBV相关的慢加急性肝衰竭(HBV-ACLF)的预后极差。B7-H3和B7-H4是B7超家族的两个新成员,它们积极参与调节传染病的发病机制。然而,HBV-ACLF患者肝内这两个成员的表达情况尚未见报道。在本研究中,我们通过免疫组织化学分析了HBV-ACLF活检组织中B7-H3和B7-H4的表达。我们的结果显示,在所有HBV-ACLF样本中均观察到这两个成员,且它们的表达主要见于浸润的炎性细胞和受损的胆管。免疫荧光双重染色显示,B7-H4主要表达于CD3(+) T细胞、CD68(+)巨噬细胞、CK-18(+)胆管和CD31(+)内皮细胞,而B7-H3在所有检测的细胞类型中均有发现。在这些肝组织中还检测到程序性死亡(PD)-1配体PD-L1和PD-L2的表达,并且发现它们与B7-H3和B7-H4共表达。这些结果表明,B7家族信号很可能影响该疾病的发病机制,对其功能作用的清晰了解可能会进一步阐明疾病进程。