Keratin variants predispose to acute liver failure and adverse outcome: race and ethnic associations.

ABSTRACT:

Background & aims

Keratins 8 and 18 (K8/K18) provide anti-apoptotic functions upon liver injury. The cytoprotective function of keratins explains the overrepresentation of K8/K18 variants in patients with cirrhosis. However, K8/K18 variant-associated susceptibility to acute liver injury, which is well-described in animal models, has not been studied in humans.

Methods

We analyzed the entire coding regions of KRT8 and KRT18 genes (15 total exons and their exon-intron boundaries) to determine the frequency of K8/K18 variants in 344 acute liver failure (ALF) patients (49% acetaminophen-related) and 2 control groups (African-American [n = 245] and previously analyzed white [n = 727] subjects).

Results

Forty-five ALF patients had significant amino-acid-altering K8/K18 vari

SUBMITTER: Strnad P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3249217 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature