1. Expression of alpha smooth muscle actin in living donor liver transplant recipients.
- Author
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Hirabaru M, Mochizuki K, Takatsuki M, Soyama A, Kosaka T, Kuroki T, Shimokawa I, and Eguchi S
- Subjects
- Biliary Atresia diagnosis, Biomarkers analysis, Biopsy, Child, Child, Preschool, Drug Administration Schedule, Early Diagnosis, Female, Hepatic Stellate Cells drug effects, Hepatic Stellate Cells pathology, Humans, Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted, Immunohistochemistry, Immunosuppressive Agents administration & dosage, Infant, Liver Cirrhosis etiology, Liver Cirrhosis pathology, Male, Predictive Value of Tests, Retrospective Studies, Risk Factors, Time Factors, Treatment Outcome, Actins analysis, Biliary Atresia surgery, Hepatic Stellate Cells chemistry, Liver Cirrhosis metabolism, Liver Transplantation methods, Living Donors, Transplant Recipients
- Abstract
Recently, there have been reports from liver biopsies that showed the progression of liver fibrosis in liver transplant patients after the cessation of immunosuppression. Herein, we focused on activated hepatic stellate cells expressing alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) to understand the correlation between immunosuppressant medication and liver fibrosis. The study enrolled two pediatric patients who underwent living donor liver transplantation and ceased immunosuppressant therapy. The number of α-SMA-positive cells in the specimens obtained by liver biopsy from these two patients showed a three-fold increase compared with the number from four transplanted pediatric patients who were continuing immunosuppressant therapy. In addition, the α-SMA-positive area evaluated using the WinRooF image processing software program continued to increase over time in three adult transplanted patients with liver fibrosis, and the α-SMA-positive area was increasing even during the pre-fibrotic stage in these adult cases, according to a retrospective review. Therefore, α-SMA could be a useful marker for the detection of early stage fibrosis.
- Published
- 2014
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