Notch配体、受体在小儿胆道畸形肝组织中的表达及意义

Objective To investigate the expressions of Notch ligands and its receptors in the liver tissues of the pediatric patients with bile duct malformations. Methods Twenty three patients including 12 patients with biliary atresia and 11 with choledochal cyst were enrolled in this study. The patients' liver specimens were harvested during surgery. Immunohistochemistry and real-time fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR were performed to examine the expression of Notch ligands and its receptors in the liver tissues. Nine health liver tissues served as controls. The clinical data of these patients were also collected and analyzed. Results The expression of Jag1 significantly increased in the proliferating ductules of the patients with biliary atresia. Jag2 was negative in the portal area of all patients. The mRNA of Jag1 of the patients with bile duct malformations was higher than that of controls (P＜0. 01). No difference of the mRNA of Jag2 was found between the bile duct malformation patients and the controls (P＞0. 05). The expression of Notch 1 and Notch 2 was mostly found in hepatocytes and bile ductules of the controls' and the choledochal cyst patients' liver tissues. No Notch 1 and Notch 2 expression was found in proliferating ductules of the biliary atresia patients. Notch 3 was expressed in the neovascularization and mesenchyme of the biliary atresia patients. There was no significant difference of Notch1 and Notch 2 mRNA between the biliary atresia patients, choledochal cyst patients and controls (P＞0. 05). Notch 3 mRNA of biliary atresia patients was higher than that of the controls (P＜0. 01). Notch 4 expression was undetectable in all patients. Conclusions The expression patterns of Notch ligands and its receptors are changed in the patients with biliary atresia, which may contribute to the pathogenesis of biliary atresia.

The expressions of Notch ligands and its receptors in the liver tissues of the pediatric patients with bile duct malformations