α-SMA and Ki-67 Immunohistochemistry as Indicators for the Fibrotic Remodeling Process in the Liver of Dogs

Abstract

Liver cirrhosis is a fatal end-stage of various chronic liver diseases. It develops from persistent liver cell necrosis with resulting fibrosis. Because liver cirrhosis is an irreversible process it is important to recognize the reversible fibrotic stages of the disease. Different markers and staining are currently used to detect fibrosis. Besides plasma markers, some tissue markers are currently being used for this purpose. In this study, we investigated the expression of two immunohistochemical markers (Ki-67, α-SMA) in liver diseases with and without fibrosis in dogs and compared their expression with the degree of tissue fibrosis, assessed by Masson trichrome staining. In all the stages of fibrosis, Ki-67 and α-SMA was expressed in the liver tissue. There was no significant difference between Masson trichrome staining which is “gold standard†and expression of Ki-67 or α-smooth muscle actin (SMA). We concluded that Ki-67 and α-SMA can be potentially used as markers for the fibrotic remodeling of the liver.