1001 EXPRESSION ANALYSIS OF NF-κB IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE LIVER FAILURE DURING PREGNANCY

Abstract

Background and Aims: There is paucity of information on the pathophysiological mechanisms of the hepatic damage during acute liver failure caused by hepatitis viruses. Nuclear Factor Kappa B transcription factor, a key regulator of genes involved in response to infection, inflammation and stress leads to production of inflammatory cytokines and apoptotic stimuli. The study was aimed to determine any role of NF-uB in the death of acute liver failure women during pregnancy. Methods: A total of 60 patients were included in the study which constituted of 25 acute liver failure patients and controls consisting of 20 healthy blood donors, 10 healthy pregnant females and 5 autopsy cases. All the samples were subjected to serological analysis, PCR and nuclear protein extraction was carried out. Western blotting analysis was carried out to detect the expression of NF-uB using primary antibodies specific for p65 and p50 subunits. Results: Mortality rate in the pregnant female acute liver failure patient was very high 75% (9/12) but no significant difference was observed between the pregnant and nonpregnant patients. The expression of p50 protein in blood was very high78.94% (15/19) in the HEV infected acute liver failure cases while in majority of the cases 52.89% (11/19), p65 showed nil expression in the HEV infected cases. In the pregnant acute liver failure patients, expression of essential p65 was nil in 58.3% (7/12) cases and low in majority 60% (6/10) of the healthy pregnant patients showing nil expression in the HEV infected cases. The expression of p50 protein was very high in 6 cases (6/10, 60%) of the post mortem liver tissue whereas 3 (3/5, 60%) controls showed normal expression whereas in the surviving cases moderate expression of p50 was observed in the blood of all the six cases compared to p65 which showed low to nil expression in all the cases. Conclusion: p65 is an essential component for normal functioning of the NF-uB complex and its absence causes increased apoptosis and liver degeneration leading to liver damage and death in acute liver failure patients confirming the anti-apoptotic role of NF-uB.