Expression Of TLR4and IL-18in Placental Of Intrahepatic Cholestasis Of Prengency And Its Significance

Objective To investigate the effect of TLR4and IL-18in thePathogenesis of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy(ICP)．Methods The samples were obtained from30cases of ICP patients(ICP)including mild group(MG)(n=10)and severe group(SG)(n=10)，10cases of normal pregnancy women(NG)．TLR4and IL-18expression wereexamined by Immunohistochemistry (SABc) and Western blot in this study.Results （1）TLR4expression was detected in syncytiotrophoblast plasma membrane and IL-18expression was detected in syncytiotrophoblastcytoplasm by immunohistochemistry in these three groups.（2）The expression values of TLR4and IL-18protein in placenta oncontrol group; mild ICP group and severe ICP group were TLR4:（0.33±0.04）、（0.74±0.03）and（1.07±0.01），IL-18:（0.43±0.02）、（0.75±0.04）and（0.97±0.03） respectively. The expression of TLR4proteinin severe ICP group was significantly higher than mild ICP group andcontrol group (p<0.05). The expression of IL-18protein in severe ICPgroup was significantly higher than control group (p<0.05). Conclusion The up-regulation of TLR4and IL-18maybe involved in the process of hepatic injury of ICP.