[Expression and significance of tissue inhibitors of metallproteinases-1 and -2 in serum and liver tissue of patients with liver cirrhosis].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the expression and location of tissue inhibitors of metallproteinases-1 and -2 (TIMP-1 and TIMP-2) in liver tissue of patients with cirrhosis and to investigate the correlation between TIMPs in liver and those in serum.


METHODS
TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 in the serum of 106 patients with liver cirrhosis were detected by solid-phase absorption to sensitized erythrocytes (SPASE). The expression of TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 related antigens in liver biopsy specimens from 30 patients with liver cirrrhosis was detected by immunohistochemical method with specific monoclonal antibody (McAb), and the results thus obtained were compared with the results of the seral TIMPs from the same patients. 10 normal livers were used as controls.


RESULTS
The positive rates of TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 in the 106 serum samples of patients with cirrhosis were 73.58% and 61.32% respectively. TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 related antigens were detected in all of the 30 liver tissues from patients with liver cirrhosis and the expression of TIMP-1 was higher than that of TIMP-2 (P < 0.01). The staining signal of TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 related antigen was mainly located in the cytoplasm of liver cells. There was no signal in nuclear of liver cells. None of the normal liver tissues was positive in expression of TIMP-related antigen. The positive rate was 100% for serum TIMP-1 and 77% for serum TIMP-2.


CONCLUSIONS
Expression of TIMPs at different degrees can be found in liver tissue with cirrhosis. TIMPs are located in cytoplasm of liver cells of patients with cirrhosis. There is a significant correlation between serum TIMPs level and liver TIMPs level. Serum TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 can be used as diagnostic indexes for liver fibrosis in chronic liver diseases.
Nie
Q
Q
The Center of Infectious Disease Diagnosis and Treatment of PLA, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an.710038, China.
Zhou
Y
Y
Xie
Y
Y
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002645:Chickens; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019715:Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1 / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D019716:Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-2 / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*
D015415:Biomarkers; D019715:Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1; D019716:Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-2