LAUSR

Objective: We analyzed the expression of interleukin-(IL)-17 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β in the spleens of rats suffering from liver cirrhosis and hypersplenism, and investigated the cause of peripheral cytopenias. Methods: Fifty-five male Sprague–Dawley rats were divided randomly into two groups. The control group (n=15) was gavaged with physiologic (0.9%) saline. The experimental group (n=40) was gavaged with 40% CCL4/peanut oil solution at 0.3 mL/100 g twice a week for 8 weeks, and a 15% alcohol solution was given as drinking water, to establish a model of liver cirrhosis and hypersplenism. After confirmation of liver cirrhosis and hypersplenism, spleen tissue was collected to determine expression of IL-17 and TGF-β by Immuno Histo Chemical (IHC), western blotting, and real-time fluorescence-based quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: IHC staining revealed positive expression of IL-17 and TGF-β in the experimental group to be 36.67% and 73.33% respectively, which was significantly higher than that in the control group (6.67% and 13.33%, respectively; χ2=4.60, P<0.05; χ2=14.46, P<0.01). Western blotting revealed the relative expression of IL-17 and TGF-β in the experimental group (1.09 ± 0.39, 1.51 ± 0.22) to be significantly higher than that in the control group (0.53 ± 0.25, 0.63 ± 0.17) (t= -3.227, P<0.01; t= -9.264, P<0.01). Real-time fluorescence-based qPCR showed relative expression of IL-17 and TGF-β mRNA in the experimental group to be 2.81 ± 0.70 and 2.91 ± 0.63, respectively, which was significantly higher than that in the control group (1.06 ± 0.21 and 0.99 ± 0.052, respectively) (t= -5.96, P<0.01; t= -7.35, P<0.01). Pearson correlation analyses showed the relative mRNA expression of IL-17 to be positively correlated with that of TGF-β (R=0.520, P<0.01). Conclusion: Expression of IL-17 and TGF-β was increased significantly and positively correlated in the spleens of rats suffering from liver cirrhosis and hypersplenism, which may have caused peripheral cytopenias.