Lauwens Sara, Costas-Rodríguez Marta, Van Vlierberghe Hans, Vanhaecke Frank
Department of Analytical Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281-S12, BE-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185-1K12IE, BE-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Sci Rep. 2016 Jul 29;6:30683. doi: 10.1038/srep30683.
End-stage liver disease (ESLD) is life-threatening and liver transplantation (LTx) is the definitive treatment with good outcomes. Given the essential role of hepatocytes in Cu homeostasis, the potential of the serum Cu isotopic composition for monitoring a patient's condition post-LTx was evaluated. For this purpose, high-precision Cu isotopic analysis of blood serum of ESLD patients pre- and post-LTx was accomplished via multi-collector ICP-mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). The Cu isotopic composition of the ESLD patients was fractionated in favour of the lighter isotope (by about -0.50‰). Post-LTx, a generalized normalization of the Cu isotopic composition was observed for the patients with normal liver function, while it remained light when this condition was not reached. A strong decrease in the δ(65)Cu value a longer term post-LTx seems to indicate the recurrence of liver failure or cancer. The observed trend in favour of the heavier Cu isotopic composition post-LTx seems to be related with the restored biosynthetic capacity of the liver, the restored hepatic metabolism and/or the restored biliary secretion pathways. Thus, Cu isotopic analysis could be a valuable tool for the follow-up of liver transplant patients and for establishing the potential recurrence of liver failure.
终末期肝病（ESLD）危及生命，肝移植（LTx）是具有良好疗效的确定性治疗方法。鉴于肝细胞在铜稳态中的重要作用，评估了血清铜同位素组成用于监测肝移植术后患者病情的潜力。为此，通过多接收电感耦合等离子体质谱法（MC-ICP-MS）完成了终末期肝病患者肝移植前后血清的高精度铜同位素分析。终末期肝病患者的铜同位素组成偏向较轻的同位素（约-0.50‰）。肝移植后，肝功能正常的患者铜同位素组成普遍恢复正常，而未达到这种情况时则仍保持较轻状态。肝移植后较长时间内δ(65)Cu值大幅下降似乎表明肝衰竭或癌症复发。肝移植后偏向较重铜同位素组成的观察趋势似乎与肝脏恢复的生物合成能力、恢复的肝脏代谢和/或恢复的胆汁分泌途径有关。因此，铜同位素分析可能是肝移植患者随访以及确定肝衰竭潜在复发情况的有价值工具。
