Clinical significance of changes of plasma ET-1 and serum TGF-α,TGF-β1 levels in patients with liver cirrhosis

Objective To explore the clinical significance of changes of plasma Endothelim-1（ET-1）and serum Transforming Growth Factor-α（TGF-α）,Transforming Growth Factorβ1（TGF-β1）levels in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods The plasma ET-1 and serum TGF-α,TGF-β1 levels were determined in 66 patients with liver cirrhosis by RIA or ELISA,among which 30 cases had abdominal fluid while the other 36 cases had not In addition,35 healthy individuals were enrolled into the study as control. Results The plasma ET-1 levels were significantly lower in the patients group than control（P 〈0.01）,while the serum TGF-α and TGF-β1 levels were significantly higher in the patients than those in control（P 〈 0.01）. In cases with abdominal fluid the plasma ET-1 levels were particularly high and had significantly negative correlation with serum TGF-α and TGF-β1 levels（r = -0. 4782,-0. 5014 respectively,P 〈 0. 01）. Conclusions The plasma ET-1,serum TGF-α and TGF-β1 levels were closely related to the diseases process of liver cirrhosis and had good clinical application values in diagnosis and prognosis.作 Key words: Liver cirrhosis Endothelim-1 Transforming growth factor-α Transforming growth factor β1