Lee, Leslie Huddleston, Peter K. Bryant-Greenwood, Timothy Kuo Backgrounds and aims: Previous studies evaluated the usefulness of non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) only selleck chemicals as a part of chronic liver disease category. The aims of this study were
to evaluate performance of transient elastography (TE) in AIH patients and to predict cut-off values of significant fibrosis, defined as stages III and IV fibrosis by METAVIR score. Patients and methods: Sixty patients, diagnosed as AIH at Gangnam Severance Hospital between Jan 2008 and Feb 2014, were included in this study. Diagnosis was made based on the diagnostic criteria by ‘Revised Original Scoring System of the International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group (1999)’. TE was performed to measure liver stiffness (LS) between 1 and 3 month after the diagnosis was made when acute flare of hepatitis was relieved. Forty-seven patients had liver biopsy performed INCB024360 for staging of liver fibrosis. Results: Patients were female predominant (M:F = 6:41) and 15 patients (31.9%) had significant fibrosis. On univariate
analysis, the variables associated with significant fibrosis detected by liver biopsy are ALP (P = 0.016), GGT (P = 0.008), INR (P = 0.021), LS (P = 0.003) and duration for AST normalization after initiation of treatment (P = 0.002). On multivariate analysis, LS (OR = 1.216, 1.012-1.462, 95% CI), and duration for AST normalization (OR = 1.025, 1.002-1.048, 95% CI) were independent variables associated with significant fibrosis. The cut-off of LS≥ 9.1 kPa had 94.4% sensitivity and 100% specificity for predicting significant fibrosis. The cut-off of LS ≥ 10.4 kPa had 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity for liver cirrhosis. LS predicted significant fibrosis (P = 0.0002) and liver cirrhosis (P = 0.001) better than APRI in AIH by AUROC. Conclusions: Transient elastography was proved to be a simple, reliable and useful method for assessing significant liver fibrosis in autoimmune hepatitis. Disclosures:
see more The following people have nothing to disclose: Ja Kyung Kim, Hae Won Kim, Jung Il Lee, Kwan Sik Lee Background and aims: Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is associated with numerical and functional CD4+CD25+ regulatory T-cell (Treg) defects. Bona-fide Tregs are negative for CD127 – the α chain of the IL7 receptor – normally expressed on activated effector T-cells. IL7 is known to impact Treg function and survival. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the extent of Treg activation in AIH and to explore the role of the IL7/ CD127 axis in modulating Treg function. Methods: 44 ANA/ SMA+ AIH patients and 20 healthy subjects (HS) were studied. T-cell phenotype, transcription factor and cytokine profile was determined by flow cytometry.