Evaluation of Inflammatory Cytokine IL-17 and Immunohistochemical Analysis of Cirrhotic Liver from HCV Patients
Evaluation of Inflammatory Cytokine IL-17 and Immunohistochemical Analysis of Cirrhotic Liver from HCV Patients
Shafi Muhammad1, Bibi Nazia Murtaza2, Aftab Ahmad1, Muhammad Shafiq3, Nurul Kabir4 and Hamid Ali1*
ABSTRACT
A distinctive feature of chronic hepatitis C infection is the presence of persistent liver inflammation characterized by the expression of different inflammatory molecules including Interleukin-17 (IL-17). The progression of chronic liver ailments (fibrosis, cirrhosis) towards hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is determined by the distortion produced in the normal structure of liver. Pakistan bears the second highest numbers of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections after Egypt. Although the role of IL-17A in chronic liver diseases (CLD) had been extensively studied, there is little to no data available on the serum profiling of IL-17A in HCV patients from Pakistan. Thus, we investigated the relationship between serum levels of IL-17A and age in chronic and fibrotic HCVpatients by ELISA and evaluated different markers that are invloved in the progression of CLDs towards HCC by performing histopathology and immunohistochemistry (IHC) techniques in liver tissues in HCV patients from the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. In addition, the network of IL-17A and its KEGG pathway related gene IDs were constructed using GeneMANIA and STRING online web tools. IL-17A serum levels were significantly higher in fibrotic patients compared to chronic HCV patients and showed a positive correlation with age. The constructed gene network revealed interactions between IL-17A and various other genes, especially chemokines. IHC analysis revealed significant changes in the architecture of liver especially an abnormal expression of alpha (α)-SMA and the activation and transmigration of Kupffer cells towards the septa.
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