Abstract: Objective To investigate the changes of serum B7-H3 and IL-18 levels in patients with hepatitis B liver cirrhosis and their clinical implication. Methods 113 patients with liver cirrhosis,including compensated liver cirrhosis in 33 and decompensated in 80,and 20 healthy volunteers at the same period were recruited in this study between April 2015 and March 2017. Serum B7-H3 and IL-18 levels were detected by ELISA,and their correlation was analyzed by linear correlation. Results Serum B7-H3 level in 80 patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis was（62.29±22.17） ng/ml,significantly higher than（32.27±10.29） ng/ml（P<0.05） in 33 patients with compensated liver cirrhosis or than（11.35±4.48） ng/ml（P<0.05） in 20 healthy persons,and serum B7-H3 level in patients with compensated liver cirrhosis was also significantly higher than in healthy control（P<0.05）;serum IL-18 level in decompensated cirrhotics was （585.63±121.28） pg/ml,much higher than （396.29±86.91） pg/ml（P<0.05） in compensated liver cirrhosis or （155.31±76.93） pg/ml （P<0.05） in healthy persons,and serum IL-18 level in patients with compensated cirrhosis was also significantly higher than in healthy control （P<0.05）;serum B7-H3 level in patients with liver cirrhosis was positively correlated to serum IL-18 level （r=0.4111,P<0.01）;serum B7-H3 level in 26 patients with Child-Pugh class C was（76.53±22.76） ng/ml,significantly higher than（23.27±9.84） ng/ml in 33 patients with Child-Pugh class A or （52.21±13.94） ng/ml （P<0. 05） in 54 patients with Child-Pugh class B,and serum IL-18 level in patients with Child-Pugh class C was（594.13±112.21） pg/ml,significantly higher than （408.06±92.41） pg/ml in patients with Child-Pugh class B or （243.82±57.03） pg/ml（P<0.05） in patients with Child-Pugh class A,and serum IL-18 level in patients with Child-Pugh class B was also significantly higher than in patients with Child-Pugh class A（P<0.05）. Conclusion Serum B7-H3 level in patients with hepatitis B-induced liver cirrhosis increase accompanying with serum IL-18 level elevation,which might take part in the pathogenesis of liver cirrhosis.

Key words: Liver cirrhosis, Hepatitis B, B7-H3, Interleukin -18, Child-Pugh class