Neutrophil characteristics and function during the progression of liver cirrhosis

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Neutrophils are essential components of the innate immune system and necessary for fighting against infections. Liver cirrhosis, the end-stage of chronic liver disease, often presents with neutrophil dysfunction. This study aimed to investigate the phenotypic, morphological, and functional changes affecting neutrophils in liver cirrhosis from early to advanced stages of the disease.

METHODS: Whole blood samples were obtained from healthy volunteer and cirrhotic patients and evaluated for neutrophil surface marker expression, morphological characteristics, and mitochondrial content. Neutrophils were stimulated using formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLF, or fMLP) to assess potential defects in activation. Statistical analyses were performed to assess differences between the study groups.

RESULTS: CD66b expression was significantly increased in cirrhotic patients, particularly those in advanced stages, probably due to continuous bacterial infections. Individuals with liver cirrhosis showed greater HLA-DR, CD15, and TLR4 levels.

Morphologically, both early and late-stage patients had more immature neutrophils, which suggested deregulation of neutrophil homeostasis. In addition, advanced cirrhosis patients had more hyper-segmented neutrophils, indicative of senescent neutrophils and a higher frequency of vacuolated neutrophils, suggestive of severe infections.

CONCLUSION: Our findings indicated variations in neutrophil marker expression, ageing patterns, and morphology across stages of liver cirrhosis. Neutrophil characteristics such as marker expression and morphological changes have the potential to serve as disease progression indicators. Our study, however, has limitations, such as a small sample size. More research is needed to determine the relationship between neutrophil dysfunction and the progression of liver cirrhosis.