부산대학교 도서관

Introduction: Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD), which consists of three major diseases: (1) fatty liver, (2) alcoholic hepatitis and (3) cirrhosis, is described to be associated with lymphopenia and altered ratio of lymphocyte subsets but the reported results are not uniform. Aim: To compare the Absolute Lymphocyte Counts (ALC) and its subsets including T-helper 17 (Th17) or Interleukin 17 (IL-17) secreting lymphocyte subsets between ALD patients and controls and to correlate these findings with biochemical and radiology findings. Materials and Methods: Forty cases of ALD at various stages of presentation were included in the study along with equal number of age and sex matched healthy controls. Ultrasound abdomen and liver function tests were done in all cases. Peripheral blood was collected and subjected to flow cytometric analysis for estimation of CD3, CD4, CD8 and Th17 cells. Results: On ultrasound, 13, 19 and 8 cases were found to be fatty liver, chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis respectively. With advanced stage of ALD there was significant decrease in ALC, CD3, CD4 and CD8 and while Th17 increased markedly. ROC curves were made and Th17% of 2.44 was found to be the optimum level for predicting progression to chronic hepatitis and 6.07 for cirrhosis. Conclusion: Th17 levels increase while ALC, CD3, CD4 and CD8 cells decrease with advancing stage of liver disease. These may be potential markers for staging and prognostication of ALD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]