Crosstalk between angiogenesis, cytokeratin-18, and insulin resistance in the progression of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis

Figure 2 Semi-quantitative analysis of CD34 and possible correlation with liver fibrosis development. A: Semi-quantitative analysis of the CD34-positive neovessels in the liver in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). There was no difference between the control healthy liver and simple FL. In NASH, a marked augmentation of neovascularization was found in the liver of NASH as compared with FL. The magnitude of neovascularization in high-grade (F2 to F4) liver fibrosis was more than in low-grade (F0, F1) fibrosis. The proportional increase in neovascularization was almost parallel to the development of liver fibrosis. ^bP < 0.01 vs control group; ^dP < 0.01 vs low-grade fibrosis with NASH group. The number of patients in each group was as follows: Control (n = 3), FL (n = 11), low-grade fibrosis (F0 and F1: n = 10), and high-grade fibrosis (F2 to F4: n = 18). MV: Microvessel density; B: The relationship between the development of CD-34-positive vessels and fibrosis grade in NAFLD. The degree of angiogenesis correlated with the development of fibrosis. The equation was y = 509.82x - 6.7958. The correlation coefficient was 0.6288.