Level Of B Lymphocyte Activating Factor And B Cell Activating Factor Receptor In Patients With Autoimmune Hepatitis Type-â…  And Their Value In Clinical Practice

BackgroundAutoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is one type of autoimmune liver disease (ALD). The research which is about autoimmune hepatitis has made great achievement. However, the pathogenesis of autoimmune hepatitis is still not clear. A number of studies have suggested the abnormalities of autoimmune mechanism plays a key role in autoimmune hepatitis. A large number of antibodies appear in the serum of these patients with autoimmune hepatitis. It indicates that the increases of autoantibodies promoted the occurrence of autoimmune hepatitis. In recent years, many scholars are in exploring which factors accelerate the progress of autoimmune hepatitis. They hope to find them and stop them playing biological effects to slow the progress of the disease. The found of B lymphocytes activating factor and its receptors promote the researches about autoimmune hepatitis in certain degree. We found B lymphocytes activating factors increased significantly in the serum of these patients with autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE), rheumatoid arthritis(RA), drying syndrome(DS) and so on. However, the researches about the relationship between B lymphocytes activating factor and autoimmune hepatitis are still infrequent. The relationship needs to be studied further. ObjectiveTo detect the serum level of B lymphocyte activating factor and B cell activating factor receptor in patients with autoimmune hepatitis type-I and study their relations to the clinical features of AIH-I.MethodsTo collect 30 patients with AIH-I and 30 healthy subjects. BAFF was detected with enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and BAFF-R was detected with flow cytometry, and detect the two indicators after therapy. Meanwhile collect the date of ALT, AST, GLO, CRP, IgG and histological staging (inflammation and fibrosis score) before therapy. The results were dealt with SPSS.ResultsThere was difference in the mean serum BAFF between AIH-I and healthy subjects(P<0.05). There was difference in the mean membrane-combined BAFF-R on B cells between AIH-I and healthy subjects(P<0.05). There was correlation between serum BAFF and membrane-combined BAFF-R(P<0.05). There was difference in the mean serum BAFF between the two groups whether accept treatment(P<0.05). There was difference in the mean membrane-combined BAFF-R on B cells between the two groups whether accept treatment(F<0.05). There was no correlation between BAFF,BAFF-R and ALT, AST, GLO, CRP, IgG(P>0.05). There was a median positive correlation between BAFF,BAFF-R and histological staging(inflammation and fibrosis score) (P<0.05)..ConclusionsThe level of BAFF and BAFF-R was significantly increased in AIH-I patients. The level of BAFF and BAFF-R was significantly descended after treatment in AIH-I patients, so they may give some directions to AIH-I prognosis.