Abstract:

Objective To investigate interleukin-18（IL-18）,interleukin-37（IL-37）,nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor 3（NLRP3）and natural killer（NK）cell/dendritic cell（DC） ratio in hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis. Methods A total of 129 patients with hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis（hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis group） were enrolled,and according to the ChildPugh classification,they were classified into 49 cases of grade A,47 cases of grade B and 33 cases of grade C. Totally,129 hepatitis B patients（hepatitis B group） and 129 healthy subjects（healthy control group）were enrolled as well. According to the progress of the disease,129 patients with hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis were classified into hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis group （98 cases）and primary liver cancer group（31 cases）. All the subjects were determined for IL-18,IL-37,NLRP3 and NK/DC ratio. Receiver operating characteristic（ROC）curve was used to evaluate the efficacy of IL-18,IL-37,NLRP3 and NK/DC ratio in the differential diagnosis of hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis and primary liver cancer. Results The levels of IL-18,IL-37 and the relative expression of NLRP3 in healthy control group,hepatitis B group and hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis group were increased in turn（P<0.05）,and the NK/DC ratios were decreased in turn（P<0.05）. The levels of IL-18,IL-37 and the relative expression of NLRP3 in ChildPugh grade A,B and C were increased in turn（P<0.05）,and the NK/DC ratios were decreased in turn（P<0.05）. The levels of IL-18,IL-37 and the relative expression of NLRP3 in primary liver cancer group were higher than those in hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis group（P<0.05）,and the NK/DC ratio in primary liver cancer group was lower than that in hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis group（P<0.05）. ROC curve analysis results showed that the areas under curves（AUC）of NLRP3,IL-18,IL-37,NK/DC ratio single determinations and the combined determination for the differential diagnosis of hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis and primary liver cancer were 0.893,0.886,0.860,0.838 and 0.982,respectively. Conclusions IL-18,IL-37,NLRP3 and NK/DC ratio are related to the occurrence and development of hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis,and they have clinical values in the differential diagnosis of hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis and primary liver cancer.

Key words: Interleukin-18, Interleukin-37, Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor 3, Natural killer cell/dendritic cell ratio, Hepatitis B, Liver cirrhosis, Primary liver cancer