Expression of Perforin in the Peripheral Blood of Patients with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis and Its Clinical Significance

  Objective  To study the expression of perforin (also known as pore-forming protein, PFP) in the peripheral blood of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and to analyze the clinical significance of PFP in the pathogenesis of PBC.

  Methods  Peripheral blood mononuclear cells PFP mRNA were detected by real-time RT-PCR assay in 86 PBC patients, 56 chronic hepatitis B patients, and 69 health controls. The expressions of PFP protein in CD3-CD56+natural killer cells (NK), CD3+CD8+cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL), and CD3+CD56+natural killer T lymphocytes (NKT) were examined by tricolour flow cytometry.

  Results  The mRNA expression of PFP was significantly higher in PBC patients (P < 0.05). The percentage of lymphocyte subsets was not significantly different among the three groups (P>0.05), while the percentage of PFP in the three lymphocyte subsets in PBC patients was significantly higher than those in health controls (P < 0.01). The Mayo risk score was significantly correlated with the gene expression of PFP and the percentage of PFP in three types of cells in PBC patients (P < 0.05). The percentage of PFP in NK and CTL cells were also positively correlated with the levels of total bilirubin in PBC patients (P < 0.05).

  Conclusions  PFP shows abnormal expression in PBC patients, suggesting that PFP may be involved in the pathogenesis of PBC. The percentages of PFP-positive NK, CTL, and NKT cells can be used as effective indicators in predicting the survival of PBC patients.