Does Autophagy have a Role in the Pathogenesis of Pediatric Hepatic Steatosis?

Unlabelled: Hepatic steatosis has become the most common cause of chronic liver disease among children worldwide.  Lipophagy has been considered as a pathway affecting steatosis development and progression.

Objective: this study aimed to evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of Beclin1 and LC3A in pediatric hepatic tissues with steatosis and to correlate their expression with clinicopathological parameters.

Methods: this study included 81 Egyptian pediatric patients with hepatic steatosis and 21 pediatric cases without hepatic steatosis. All specimens were stained by Beclin1 and LC3A antibodies. According to final diagnosis obtained from Pediatric Hepatology department, patients were divided into two groups: chronic liver disease (CLD) group that included 45 cases and inborn error of metabolism (IEM) group that included 36 cases.

Results: higher beclin1 expression was significantly correlated with higher stages of fibrosis and distorted liver architecture in CLD group, (P=0.043) for both. The control group showed higher positivity, percentage, as well as the median values of the H score of LC3A expression than did the CLD group or the IEM group (P=0.055, 0.001, and 0.008, respectively). Higher positivity of LC3A was significantly associated with higher stages of fibrosis and distorted liver architecture in the studied IEM group (P=0.021) for both.

Conclusions: Varying intensity grades of LC3A and Beclin 1 immunohistochemical expression demonstrate the variation of autophagy at different phases of pediatric hepatic steatosis and varied disease etiology.