Table 3.
Histological and immunohistochemical findings in NAFLD biopsies obtained from wild type homozygous patients and patients carrying PNPLA3 I148M variant.
| Wild type (CC carrier) N = 15 | PNPLA3 (GC/GG variant carrier) N = 39 | p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NAFLD activity score | 3.53 ± 1.68 | 4.15 ± 1.60 | 0.106 |
| Steatosis | 1.13 ± 0.99 | 1.74 ± 0.97 | 0.022 |
| Lobular inflammation | 1.33 ± 0.72 | 1.15 ± 0.94 | 0.223 |
| Ballooning | 1.07 ± 0.80 | 1.26 ± 0.82 | 0.401 |
| Portal inflammation (%) | 20 | 59 | 0.015 |
| Fibrosis score | 1.80 ± 1.08 | 2.10 ± 0.94 | 0.157 |
| Ductular Reaction | 0.12 ± 0.11 | 0.38 ± 0.49 | 0.044 |
| EpCAM+ hepatocytes | 0.33 ± 0.49 | 0.80 ± 0.76 | 0.027 |
| Pericentral αSMA+ HSCs | 3.93 ± 3.64 | 5.64 ± 4.60 | 0.124 |
| Portal/septal αSMA+ MFs | 3.57 ± 3.70 | 6.47 ± 5.13 | 0.040 |
| Lobular S100A9+ macrophages | 7.17 ± 3.03 | 8.14 ± 5.08 | 0.267 |
| Portal S100A9+ macrophages | 2.67 ± 1.91 | 4.71 ± 3.10 | 0.039 |
Data are reported as mean ± standard deviation. p value in bold are statistically significant. PNPLA3: patatin-like phospholipase domain containing 3; HSCs: hepatic stellate cells; MFs: myofibroblasts; αSMA: α smooth muscle actin.