title: Expression of human glucocorticoid receptor beta of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with severe autoimmune hepatitis.
abstract: We evaluated the expression of human glucocorticoid receptor beta (hGRbeta) in patients with severe autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). The subjects were 27 patients with AIH, including 6 with severe type (prothrombin time [PT] < 40%) and 21 with non-severe type (PT>40%). Total RNA extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was reversed using reverse transcriptase. The resultant complementary DNA was amplified by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using specific primers for hGR alpha and beta. The six patients with severe AIH were female; three presented fulminant hepatic failure with hepatic encephalopathy. In all patients with AIH, hGR a was detected. The incidence of hGR beta expression in patients with non-severe type was 42.9% (9/21) ; it was 100% (6/6) in those with severe type. The positive ratio was significantly higher in severe-type patients. These results suggest that hGR beta expression in PBMCs is a novel predictor of AIH severity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine II, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rai
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Monoe
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kanno
authors.forename: Hironobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Irisawa
authors.forename: Hiromasa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D019693:Hepatitis, Autoimmune / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011965:Receptors, Glucocorticoid / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D011965:Receptors, Glucocorticoid; C121943:glucocorticoid receptor beta