Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIM: We examined the hypothesis that T cell-derived-circulating microparticles (MPs) are increased in liver-cirrhosis (LC) patients compared to normal subjects and are also increased in chronic hepatitis compared to acute-decompensated-liver cirrhosis (ADLC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 66 LC patients, including 35 with ADLC and 31 with non-decompensated-LC (NDLC), were enrolled in the study. Ten volunteers served as controls. RESULTS: Flow-cytometric analysis showed that circulating levels of T-cell derived MPs (i.e., total MPs and CD4+/CD8+/CD54+MPs) were higher in LC patients than in the controls (all p<0.003). Total MPs and CD8+MPs were higher in NDLC than in ADLC patients. There were good correlations between CD8+MPs and ADLC as well as between total MPs and chronic hepatitis. Multivariate-linear-regression analysis showed that NDLC was independently predictive of increased circulating CD8+MPs levels (p<0.05) and chronic hepatitis independently predictive of increased circulating total MPs levels (p<0.001)/CD4+MPs (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Circulating levels of T-cell-derived MPs were increased in ADLC patients and were even more elevated in NDLC patients compared to healthy-control subjects.