The Prognostic Value of CD8(+) and CD45RO(+) T Cells Infiltration and Beclin1 Expression Levels for Early Postoperative Cholangitis of Biliary Atresia Patients after Kasai Operation

BACKGROUND: Postoperative cholangitis is a common but severe complication after Kasai portoenterostomy for biliary atresia (BA). This study aimed to identify its prognostic factors. METHODS: Two sets of liver paraffin-embedded tissue samples were collected from BA patients who received Kasai portoenterostomy (n = 25 and n = 31, respectively). Patients were divided into non-cholangitis and cholangitis groups. The infiltration of CD4(+), CD8(+), CD45RO(+), CD68(+) cells and expression of Beclin1 were quantitatively evaluated in immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS: Cholangitis group had a significantly lower CD8(+) T cell infiltration but a higher CD45RO(+) cell infiltration, and a lower Beclin1 level than non-cholangitis group (all P < 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that infiltration of CD8(+) cells (odds ratio [OR], 0.112; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.022–0.577) and CD45RO(+) cells (OR, 3.88; 95% CI, 1.37–11.03), and Beclin1 level (OR, 0.088; 95% CI, 0.018–0.452) were independent influence factors for early postoperative cholangitis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that area under ROC curve (AUROC) values for CD8(+) cells, CD45RO(+) cells and Beclin1 were 0.857, 0.738 and 0.900, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrated the CD8(+) cells, CD45RO(+) cells and Beclin1 level possessed the prognostic value for early postoperative cholangitis following Kasai operation, which may be helpful to develop new prevention and treatment strategies for postoperative cholangitis.