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. 2021 Jun 11:12:649668.
doi: 10.3389/fphys.2021.649668. eCollection 2021.

Divergences in Macrophage Activation Markers Soluble CD163 and Mannose Receptor in Patients With Non-cirrhotic and Cirrhotic Portal Hypertension

Nikolaj Worm Ørntoft  1 , Michel Blé  2 , Anna Baiges  2 , Jose Ferrusquia  2 , Virginia Hernández-Gea  2 , Fanny Turon  2 , Marta Magaz  2 , Søren Møller  3 , Holger Jon Møller  4 , Juan Carlos Garcia-Pagan  2 , Henning Gronbaek  1
Affiliations

Divergences in Macrophage Activation Markers Soluble CD163 and Mannose Receptor in Patients With Non-cirrhotic and Cirrhotic Portal Hypertension

Nikolaj Worm Ørntoft et al. Front Physiol. .

Abstract

Introduction: Macrophages are involved in development and progression of chronic liver disease and portal hypertension. The macrophage activation markers soluble (s)CD163 and soluble mannose receptor (sMR), are associated with portal hypertension in patient with liver cirrhosis but never investigated in patients with non-cirrhotic portal hypertension. We hypothesized higher levels in cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension than patients with non-cirrhotic portal hypertension. We investigated sCD163 and sMR levels in patients with portal hypertension due to idiopathic portal hypertension (IPH) and portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in patients with and without cirrhosis.

Methods: We studied plasma sCD163 and sMR levels in patients with IPH (n = 26), non-cirrhotic PVT (n = 20), patients with cirrhosis without PVT (n = 31) and with PVT (n = 17), and healthy controls (n = 15).

Results: Median sCD163 concentration was 1.51 (95% CI: 1.24-1.83) mg/L in healthy controls, 1.96 (95% CI: 1.49-2.56) in patients with non-cirrhotic PVT and 2.16 (95% CI: 1.75-2.66) in patients with IPH. There was no difference between non-cirrhotic PVT patients and healthy controls, whereas IPH patients had significantly higher levels than controls (P < 0.05). The median sCD163 was significantly higher in the cirrhotic groups compared to the other groups, with a median sCD163 of 6.31 (95% CI: 5.16-7.73) in cirrhotics without PVT and 5.19 (95% CI: 4.18-6.46) with PVT (P < 0.01, all). Similar differences were observed for sMR.

Conclusion: Soluble CD163 and sMR levels are elevated in patients with IPH and patients with cirrhosis, but normal in patients with non-cirrhotic PVT. This suggests that hepatic macrophage activation is more driven by the underlying liver disease with cirrhosis than portal hypertension.

Keywords: biomarker; cirrhosis; macrophages; non-cirrhotic portal hypertension; portal hypertension.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Plasma concentration and median s163 (A) and sMR (B) levels in patients with idiopathic portal hypertension (IPH), non-cirrhotic portal vein thrombosis, cirrhosis without portal vein thrombosis, cirrhosis with portal vein thrombosis and healthy controls. sCD163 was significantly elevated in IPH and the two cirrhosis groups when compared to healthy controls (P < 0.05). Both sCD163 and sMR was significantly higher in the cirrhosis groups compared to the non-cirrhosis groups (P < 0.01). There was no difference between the two cirrhosis groups. *P < 0.05 compared to healthy controls.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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