OBJECTIVEThis study investigated circulation levels of chemokines (CCL2, CCL5, CXCL8, CXCL9, CXCL10) in autoimmune hepatitis(AIH) patients and evaluated the correlation between these chemokines and liver function indicators.

METHODSA total of 5 chemokines (CCL2, CCL5, CXCL8, CXCL9, CXCL10) were measured simultaneously by cytokine beads assay(CBA) in the sera of 46 patients with AIH and 12 cases of healthy control.

RESULTSIn this study we found that serum levels of CCL2 , CXCL9 and CXCL10 in AIH patients and healthy controls were 11.79:8.39 pg/ml, 11.31:2.69 pg/ml, 15.85:4.64 pg/ml, respectively , which implied these chemokines were significantly higher in AIH patients when compared to healthy control (Z=-1.958, P=0.05; Z=-4.527, P less than 0.0001; Z=-3.84, P less than 0.0001, respectively). And circulation levels of CCL2 , CXCL8 , CXCL9 and CXCL10 in pretreatment and remission stages of patients with AIH were 29.69:11.16 pg/ml, 7.2:5.38 pg/ml, 16.02:5.47 pg/ml, 90.01:13.24 pg/ml, respectively, which showed these chemokines decreased during remission from pretreatment stage levels (t=2.985, P=0.005; Z=-2.547, P=0.0112; Z=-3.187, P=0.001; t=2.12, P=0.0015, respectively). Among AIH , CXCL8 was correlated positively with lgG(r2=0.291, P=0.0039); CXCL9 was associated positively with ALT and AST(r2=0.5324 , P less than 0.0001; r2=0.3352, P less than 0.0001); CXCL10 showed a positive correlation with ALT , AST and GGT(r2=0.9551, P less than 0.0001; r2=0.8960, P less than 0.0001; r2=0.8271, P less than 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONSerum levels of CCL2, CXCL8, CXCL9 and CXCL10 are significantly higher in patients with AIH, but decrease to levels in healthy controls after successful treatment , and circulation levels of CXCL9 and CXCL10 are associated positively with liver function indicators which can react inflammation activity of liver, all these may imply that chemokines can reflect the degree of liver inflammation and may be one of the main culprits in AIH pathological damage.