Background: The aims of this study were to determine the presence of trefoil factor family-3 (TFF3) expression in biliary epithelial cells (BECs) of chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) of the liver after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation, to compare such expression in chronic liver diseases (CLD) with/without predominantly biliary disease, and to assess the effect of bile duct injury on the degree of TFF3 expression in BECs of cGVHD.
Methods: A total of 82 paraffin-embedded liver biopsy samples were reviewed. These samples were basically divided into two distinct groups according to the presence of ductal injury: group 1 with CLD and predominantly biliary disease (n=26: 17 cGVHD and 9 primary biliary cirrhosis [PBC]) and group 2 with CLD and predominantly parenchymal liver disease (n=56: 20 steatohepatitis and 36 chronic viral hepatitis). Group 2 was used as the controls. Immunohistochemistry was performed using a polyclonal anti-TFF3 antibody. Real-time quantitative PCR was used for the detection of TFF3 mRNA expression.
Results: Positive TFF3 immunohistochemical staining and the presence of TFF3 messenger RNA gene expression was demonstrably higher in group 1 than that in group 2 (P<0.0001 and P<0.05, respectively). No significant difference in terms of positive TFF3 stained BECs between GVHD and PBC samples was observed (P>0.05). The extent of TFF3 expression in GVHD samples with severe ductal injury were significantly more common than that of GVHD samples with mild/moderate ductal injury (P<0.0001).
Conclusions: The expression of TFF3 in cGVHD of the liver is increased in response to bile duct damage and repair. Such expression seems to be related the severity of ductal injury.