Background: Interferon-alpha (IFN-α), an active cytokine, plays an important role in antiviral host responses, including protection against hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. This study was designed to investigate the correlation between intrahepatic IFN-α expression levels and disease severity using liver biopsy specimens from HBV-infected patients with different outcomes.
Patients and methods: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed to detect intrahepatic IFN-α expression in liver biopsy specimens obtained from 69 HBV-infected patients with different outcomes (including 23 cases with chronic hepatitis B [CHB], 18 cases with severe hepatitis B [SHB], and 28 cases with liver cirrhosis [LC]). In situ hybridization (ISH) was carried out to measure the levels of HBV DNA in liver samples. In addition, the liver specimens of 33 healthy liver transplant donors without detectable liver diseases comprised a normal control (NC) group.
Results: The intrahepatic expression levels of IFN-α were higher in the HBV-infected patients than the NC group (p = 0.001). Intrahepatic IFN-α expression was also significantly higher in the SHB and CHB groups compared to the NC group (p = 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively), while the intrahepatic HBV DNA levels of the SHB patients were higher than those of LC patients (p = 0.013). Furthermore, intrahepatic IFN-α expression was positively correlated with serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in CHB patients; no significant correlations were discovered between intrahepatic IFN-α expression and intrahepatic HBV DNA levels in all other sub-groups.
Conclusions: Intrahepatic IFN-α expression may correlate with liver inflammation after hepatitis B virus infection, and IFN-α may play a vital role in the occurrence of SHB.