Association between Promoter Hypomethylation and Overexpression of Autotaxin with Outcome Parameters in Biliary Atresia

OBJECTIVE: Biliary atresia (BA) is a progressive fibroinflammatory liver disease. Autotaxin (ATX) has a profibrotic effect resulting from lysophosphatidic acid activity. The purpose of this study was to examine ATX expression and ATX promoter methylation in peripheral blood leukocytes and liver tissues from BA patients and controls and investigate their associations with outcome parameters in BA patients. METHODS: A total of 130 subjects (65 BA patients and 65 age-matched controls) were enrolled. DNA was extracted from circulating leukocytes and liver tissues of BA patients and from and age-matched controls. ATX promoter methylation status was determined by bisulfite pyrosequencing. ATX expression was analyzed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Decreased methylation of specific CpGs were observed at the ATX promoter in BA patients. Subsequent analysis revealed that BA patients with advanced stage had lower methylation levels of ATX promoter than those with early stage. ATX promoter methylation levels were found to be associated with hepatic dysfunction in BA. In addition, ATX expression was significantly elevated and correlated with a decrease in ATX promoter methylation in BA patients compared to the controls. Furthermore, promoter hypomethylation and overexpression of ATX were inversely associated with jaundice status, hepatic dysfunction, and liver stiffness in BA patients. CONCLUSION: Accordingly, it has been hypothesized that ATX promoter methylation and ATX expression in peripheral blood may serve as possible biomarkers reflecting the progression of liver fibrosis in postoperative BA. These findings suggest that the promoter hypomethylation and overexpression of ATX might play a contributory role in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis in BA.