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©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 28, 2016; 22(8): 2545-2557
Published online Feb 28, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i8.2545
Published online Feb 28, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i8.2545
Role of CD56-expressing immature biliary epithelial cells in biliary atresia
Rui-Zhong Zhang, Jia-Kang Yu, Jiao Peng, Yan Chen, Hui-Min Xia, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, Guangdong Province, China
Feng-Hua Wang, Hai-Yin Liu, Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou 510623, Guangdong Province, China
Vincent CH Lui, John M Nicholls, Paul KH Tam, Yan Chen, Department of Surgery and Pathology, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Jonathan R Lamb, Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Zhang RZ and Yu JK contributed equally to this work; Zhang RZ and Peng J performed and analyzed the immunohistochemistry; Yu JK, Wang FH, and Liu HY provided and analyzed clinical samples and patient information; Lui VCH, Nicholls JM, Tam PKH, Lamb JR, Chen Y, and Xia HM contributed to study design, data collection, analysis, discussion, and manuscript preparation.
Supported by The grant of State Clinical Key Specialty Construction Project (Pediatric Surgery) 2013, No. GJLCZD1301; and Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Plan Projects 2014, No. 2014A020212373.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, China.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None declared.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Yan Chen, PhD, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, Guangdong Province, China. ychenc@hku.hk
Telephone: +86-20-38076560 Fax: +86-20-38076020
Received: July 29, 2015
Peer-review started: July 30, 2015
First decision: October 15, 2015
Revised: November 4, 2015
Accepted: December 19, 2015
Article in press: December 19, 2015
Published online: February 28, 2016
Processing time: 211 Days and 1.8 Hours
Peer-review started: July 30, 2015
First decision: October 15, 2015
Revised: November 4, 2015
Accepted: December 19, 2015
Article in press: December 19, 2015
Published online: February 28, 2016
Processing time: 211 Days and 1.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Clinical laboratory parameters did not correlate with tissue fibrosis in patients with biliary atresia (BA). Immunohistochemical staining showed that CD56-positive immature bile ducts were present only in patients with BA but not in those with choledochal cyst or neonatal hepatitis. The number of CD56 expressing cells correlated with disease severity, with more positive cells present in the later stages of liver damage. Furthermore, the signaling molecule Notch1, but not Notch2, was co-expressed in CD56 positive cells. Our data provide new insights into the pathogenesis of BA in terms of biliary epithelial cell maturation and Notch expression.