Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of inflammatory factors in liver tissues of patients with different types of autoimmune liver diseases (AILD). Methods 74 patients with AILD, including autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) in 19, primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) in 42, and autoimmune hepatitis/primary biliary cirrhosis overlap syndrome (AIH-PBC OS) in 13, were recruited in this study between December 2016 and December 2018, and the expression of interleukin-12 (IL-12), IL-17 and interferon-γ were detected by immunohistological staining. Results Serum ALT levels in patients with AIH, PBC and AIH-PBC OS were (132.5±12.5)U/L, (40.1±8.4)U/L and (166.2±16.3)U/L, serum AST levels were (120.3±11.7)U/L, (52.8±5.6)U/L and (194.7±18.3)U/L, significantly different among them (P<0.05); serum ALP levels were (98.0±9.2)U/L, (323.5±30.9)U/L and (257.1±24.1)U/L, and serum GGT levels were (49.1±4.7)U/L, (236.8±22.6)U/L and (376.7±35.5)U/L, respectively, significantly different (P<0.05); the positive rates of IL-12 in liver tissues of patients with AIH, PBC and AIH/PBC OS were not significantly different (15.8%, 7.1% and 15.4%, respectively, P>0.05), the positive rates of IL-17 were 73.7%, 76.2% and 76.9% (P<0.05), and the positive rates of IFN-γ were 68.4%, 85.7% and 76.9%, respectively, all not significantly different (P<0.05); the positive rates of anti-hepatorenal microsome type I antibody (LKM-1) and anti-soluble liver antigen/liver pancreatic antigen antibody (SLA/LP) in patients with AIH 21.1% and 10.8%, significantly higher than 0.0% and 0.0% in patients with PBC or 0.0% and 0.0% in patients with AIH-PBC OS (P<0.05); serum anti-sp100 positive rate in patients with PBC was 19.0%, significantly higher than 0.0% in patients with AIH or 7.7% in patients with AIH-PBC OS (P<0.05); serum anti- gp210 positive rate in patients with AIH-PBC OS was 38.5%, significantly higher than 0.0% in patients with AIH(P<0.05) and anti-mitochondrial M2 antibody (AMA-M2) positive rate in patients with AIH-PBC OS was 100.0%, significantly higher than 0.0% in patients with AIH or 73.8% in patients with PBC (P<0.05); serum antinuclear antibody (ANA) and anti-smooth muscle actin (SMA) positive rates in patients with AIH were 94.7% and 78.9%, significantly higher than 19.0% and 19.0% in patients with PBC (P<0.05). Conclusion Serum autoantibodies in patients with different types of AILD are cross-positive in some instance, and the expression of inflammatory cytokines are also not differential sometime, Therefore, the clinical diagnosis should be made by the combination of routine biochemical parameters and clinical manifestations.

Key words: Autoimmune hepatitis, Primary biliary cirrhosis, Autoimmune hepatitis /primary biliary cirrhosis overlap syndrome, Autoantibodies