Differential expression of hepatic apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1, a DNA repair enzyme, in chronic hepatitis

Figure 2 Quantitation of hepatocyte nuclear apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 protein immunostaining. A: The percentage of positive hepatocellular nuclei throughout the slide was consistently 80%-100%, regardless of the etiology of chronic liver disease, while the staining intensity was lower in hepatitis B virus (HBV) group than in hepatitis C virus (HCV), autoimmune hepatitis (AIH)/primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and normal groups (^aP < 0.05 vs HCV, ^dP < 0.01 vs AIH/PBC, ^eP < 0.05 vs normal); B: The staining intensity of hepatocytic nuclear apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE-1) protein was positively correlated with serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in the HBV (r = 0.42, P < 0.05) and HCV groups (r = 0.38, P < 0.05).