Preliminary study on the correlation of interleukin-18 binding protein and vascular abnormal generation in hepatic tumour

Objective To investigate the relationship between the expression of interleukin-18 binding protein(IL-18BP) and the clinic pathological features of chronic hepatitis B, posthepatitic cirrhosis, primary hepatic carcinoma(PHC) and hemangiomas of the liver. Methods New Zealand rabbits were repeatedly immunized by IL-18BP-N polypeptide emulsified in Freund′s adjuvant to prepare the antibody of IL-18BP. The expression of IL-18BP was detected in the specimens of 41PHC, 11 posthepatitic cirrhosis, 9 chronic hepatitis B, 4 hemangiomas of hepatic tissues and 5 healthy controls by the indirect immunohistochemical staining. Results The antibody titer of IL-18BP was 1∶50 000. The expressions of IL-18BP in surrounding tumor tissue of PHC and liver hemangiomas(97.56% and 100%) were significantly higher than those in posthepatitic cirrhosis,chronic hepatitis B and hemangiomas of the liver(34.15%, 36.36% and 22.22%,respectively)(P0.01).The expression of IL-18BP in posthepatitic cirrhosis was significantly higher than that in chronic hepatitis B(P0.05).There was rarely positive expression in control groups. The rate of positive cells and the staining intensity of IL-18BP in surrounding tumor tissue and hemangiomas of the liver was significantly higher than the other three groups(P0.01). Conclusion The overexpression of IL-18BP may be related to abnormd generation of local vaseles in hepatic tumour.