Expression profiles of sphingolipids in peripheral serum in patients with hepatitis B/C cirrhosis

ObjectiveTo investigate the expression profiles of sphingolipids in peripheral serum in patients with hepatitis B/C cirrhosis and those with non-viral hepatitis-related cirrhosis. MethodsA total of 104 patients with liver cirrhosis who were admitted to Difficult & Complicated Liver Diseases and Artificial Liver Center, Beijing YouAn Hospital, Capital Medical University, from July 2014 to May 2015 were enrolled as subjects, and finally 97 patients with liver cirrhosis were enrolled, among whom there were 66 patients (68.04%) with hepatitis B/C cirrhosis and 31 patients (31.96%) with non-viral hepatitis-related cirrhosis. High-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to measure the expression of 57 sphingolipids in peripheral serum. The t-test or the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups, and the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. The variables with statistical significance in the univariate analysis were included in the multivariate analysis. ResultsThere were no significant differences between the two groups in age, proportion of male patients, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (all P＞0.05). As for the 57 sphingolipids in peripheral serum,  compared with the non-viral hepatitis-related cirrhosis group, the viral hepatitis-related cirrhosis group had significantly higher expression of Cer(d18∶1/12∶0) ［168.61 (16854-168.88) pmol/0.1 ml vs 168.53 (168.48-168.63) pmol/0.1 ml, Z=-2.54, P＜0.05］, HexCer (d18∶1/14∶1) ［213.93 (211.15-218.92) pmol/0.1 ml vs 212.26 (209.90-214.64) pmol/0.1 ml, Z=-2.03, P＜0.05］, and dhCer(d18∶0/24∶1)-1-P ［60.07 (59.40-61.23) pmol/0.1 ml vs 59.42 (59.28-59.87) pmol/0.1 ml, Z=-2.32, P＜0.05］. The logistic regression analysis revealed that high expression of dhCer(d18∶0/24∶1)-1-P was independently associated with hepatitis B/C cirrhosis (odds ratio=111, 95% confidence interval: 1.004-1.225, P=0.042). The subgroup analysis of the patients with viral hepatitis-associated cirrhosis showed that there were no significant differences between the patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis and those with hepatitis C cirrhosis in the expression of Cer(d18∶1/12∶0), HexCer (d18∶1/14∶1), and dhCer(d18∶0/24∶1)-1-P (Z=-0.563, -0.610, and -0.579, all P＞0.05). ConclusionThe sphingolipid dhCer (d18∶0/24∶1)-1-P in peripheral serum is closely associated with hepatitis B/C cirrhosis and may help to understand the features of viral hepatitis-related cirrhosis from the perspective of sphingolipids.