The relationship between lymphocyte subtypes distribution and biliary cirrhosis in biliary atresia patients

BA subjects with significant biliary cirrhosis (LSM ≥25 kPa) have higher fraction of CD3^-CD19⁺ B lymphocyte (p = 0.004) and lower fraction of CD3⁺CD8⁺ T lymphocyte, γδT lymphocyte and CD3^-CD16⁺CD56⁺ NK lymphocyte (p = 0.02, 0.01 and 0.001, respectively) than BA patients with LSM <25 kPa. BA subjects with LSM ≥25 kPa have lower Th1 lymphocytes among CD4⁺ T lymphocytes than others (p = 0.007). Among CD8⁺ T lymphocytes, higher Naïve cytotoxic T lymphocyte fraction and lower fraction of central memory cytotoxic T lymphocyte and effector memory cytotoxic T lymphocyte were observed in BA subjects with LSM ≥25 kPa (p = 0.005, 0.004, and 0.002, respectively). The LSM of BA subjects is positively correlated with serum interleukin-10 and interferon-γ (p = 0.03 and 0.046, respectively) CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that the progression of liver cirrhosis in BA patients after hepatoportoenterostomy is significantly correlated to the component and distribution of immune profiles.