ABSTRACT

Interleukin-31 (IL-31) has diverse biological functions. Increased IL-31 has been found in some skin and autoimmune diseases. There has been no study reporting the association between IL-31 and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). This study was designed to determine serum IL-31 level and to explore its diagnostic value for PBC as well as the association of IL-31 with inflammatory and fibrotic progression. 60 PBC patients, 32 age- and sex-matched patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited. The sera were detected for IL-31, IL-4, interferon gamma (IFN-γ), IL-17 and other laboratory indicators. Serum IL-31 levels were significantly higher in PBC patients (median, IQR, 20.6, 16.7–26.2, pg/ml) than CHB patients (median, IQR, 11.3, 8.0–13.0, pg/ml) and HC (median, IQR, 11.0, 10.0–12.2 pg/ml) (P < .001). Serum IL-31 performed well for identifying PBC, especially for antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA)-negative PBC with AUC of 0.900, optimal cutoff value of 13.6 pg/ml, sensitivity of 87.5% and specificity of 83.9%. Serum IL-31 was positively correlated with platelet count (r = 0.368, P = .004), but negatively with FIB4 (r = −0.307, P = .017) and histological stages (r = −0.364, P = .004) in PBC patients. It was also significantly correlated with IFN-γ (r = 0.404, P = .001) and IL-4 (r = 0.291, P = .026), but not with IL-17 (r = 0.151, P = .259) in PBC patients. Serum IL-31 is increased in and may be a useful marker for PBC, in particular, for AMA-negative PBC. Furthermore, it is inversely associated with fibrotic progression of PBC.

摘要

Interleukin-31 (IL-31) 具有多种生物学功能。在一些皮肤和自身免疫疾病中发现了增加的 IL-31。没有研究报告 IL-31 与原发性胆汁性胆管炎 (PBC) 之间的关联。本研究旨在确定血清 IL-31 水平并探讨其对 PBC 的诊断价值以及 IL-31 与炎症和纤维化进展的关联。招募了 60 名 PBC 患者、32 名年龄和性别匹配的慢性乙型肝炎 (CHB) 患者和 30 名年龄和性别匹配的健康对照 (HC)。血清检测IL-31、IL-4、干扰素γ（IFN-γ）、IL-17等实验室指标。PBC 患者（中值，IQR，20.6、16.7-26.2，pg/ml）的血清 IL-31 水平显着高于 CHB 患者（中值，IQR，11.3，8.0-13.0，pg/ml）和 HC（中值，IQR） , 11.0, 10.0–12.2 pg/ml) (P < .001）。血清IL-31在鉴别PBC方面表现良好，尤其是抗线粒体抗体（AMA）阴性的PBC，AUC为0.900，最佳临界值为13.6 pg/ml，敏感性为87.5%，特异性为83.9%。血清 IL-31 与血小板计数呈正相关 (r = 0.368, P = .004)，但与 FIB4 (r = -0.307, P = .017) 和组织学分期 (r = -0.364, P = .004)呈负相关在 PBC 患者中。它也与 IFN-γ (r = 0.404, P = .001) 和 IL-4 (r = 0.291, P = .026)显着相关，但与 IL-17 (r = 0.151, P= .259) 在 PBC 患者中。血清 IL-31 增加，可能是 PBC 的有用标志物，尤其是 AMA 阴性 PBC。此外，它与 PBC 的纤维化进展呈负相关。