JOURNAL OF PRACTICAL HEPATOLOGY ›› 2015, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (2): 156-159.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-5069.2015.02.012

• Orignal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Clinical significance of increased serum IL-33 levels in patients with alcoholic liver diseases

Hao Shuli, Zhang Jiyuan, Huang Ang, et al.   

  1. Non-infectious Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center,302nd Hospital, Beijing 100039,China
  • Received:2014-11-14 Online:2015-03-10 Published:2016-02-19

Abstract: Objective To explore the changes of serum IL-33 levels in patients with alcoholic liver diseases. Methods Serum levels of IL-33 and its soluble receptor sST2 in patients with alcoholic hepatitis(n=40), severe alcoholic hepatitis(n=17),alcoholic liver cirrhosis(n=75),and healthy individuals (n=20) were measured by ELISA. IL-33 and sST2 levels in different groups were compared and the correlation between serum IL-33 levels and the regular biochemical indexes was analyzed. Results Patients with alcoholic hepatitis,severe alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis had elevated serum IL-33 levels than that in the controls[(85.20±9.44) pg/ml,(68.70±8.14) pg/ml,(64.45±3.78) pg/ml vs. (42.17±2.41) pg/ml,P<0.001 for all],while IL-33 in patients with alcoholic hepatitis were significantly higher than that in cirrhotic patients(P<0.05);however,there was no statistical difference between patients with severe hepatitis and cirrhosis with different Child-Pugh class;Serum sST2 in alcoholic hepatitis,severe alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis group significantly elevated compared to that in the controls [(96.75±11.30) pg/ml,(51.92±11.78) pg/ml,(75.82±6.81) pg/ml vs. (43.97±3.01) pg/ml,P<0.001 for all],while serum sST2 levels in patients with alcoholic hepatitis was higher than that in patients with severe hepatitis or cirrhosis(P<0.001 and P<0.05,respectively);in addition,serum sST2 in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis with Child-Pugh A class was significantly higher than those in cirrhotic patients with Child-Pugh B class or C class(P<0.001 for both);there was no correlation between serum IL-33 and sST2(R=0.100,P=0.180);Serum IL-33 levels in patients with alcoholic liver disease showed positive correlation with lymphocyte counts(R=0.273,P<0.01),ALB(R=0.237,P<0.01),ALT(R=0.462,P<0.001),AST(R=0.387,P<0.001)and CHE(R=0.225,P<0.01),while no significant correlation with neutrophils,TBIL,ALP,GGT,TC and PTA. Conclusion Elevated serum IL-33 levels might contribute to the development of alcoholic liver disease by aggravating immunological reaction.

Key words: Alcoholic liver diseases, Interleukin-33, SolubleST2, Clinical index