Vimentin Expression in Hepatic Fibrosis

To reveal the clinicopathological significance and relevance of vimentin expression in hepatic fibrosis, we have applied a separate cohort of 55 subjects (22 controls and 33 patients with liver fibrosis) under approval of Institutional Review Board, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan, plasma samples were retrospectively retrieved from the serum bank, Liver Research Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital for a study attempting to correlated biochemistry, tissue histology, and harmonic microscopy characteristics for liver fibrosis in hepatitis B patients. All patients included had previously received liver biopsy for evaluation of hepatitis activities and liver fibrosis which is classified by “ISHAK” score [24 (link)]. The protein amount was determined and normalized by using the Bradford Protein Assay Kit (AMRESCO, Solon, OH, USA)). Western blotting assays were conducted and quantified with GeneTools Image Software (version 4.03, Syngene). All experiments were technically repeated three times.