Hepatic expression of IL-8, IL-10, and CXCL-14 in drug-induced liver injury: correlation with histopathology and prognostic value

Abstract

Background Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) lacks reliable tissue-based biomarkers for diagnosing disease severity and predicting outcomes. This study investigated the hepatic expression of interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and chemokine ligand-14 (CXCL-14) in DILI and evaluated their diagnostic and prognostic relevance. Methods Forty biopsy-proven DILI patients and ten healthy controls were enrolled. Immunohistochemistry was performed to quantify hepatic IL-8, IL-10, and CXCL-14 expression. Clinical variables, inflammation grades, and fibrosis stages were analyzed. Correlation analysis, logistic regression, and ROC curves were applied to assess diagnostic value and prognosis. Results Hepatic IL-8, IL-10, and CXCL-14 were significantly elevated in DILI patients compared with controls (P < 0.05). IL-8 and CXCL-14 levels varied with inflammation grade, and IL-8 also correlated with fibrosis. Spearman analysis showed positive correlations of IL-8, IL-10, and CXCL-14 with inflammation severity, while IL-8 and CXCL-14 were associated with fibrosis. CXCL-14 additionally correlated with AST and GGT. Multivariate analysis identified CXCL-14 as an independent predictor of unfavorable outcomes (OR = 1.769, 95% CI: 1.062–2.947, P = 0.029). ROC analysis demonstrated good prognostic performance (AUC = 0.848). Conclusion IL-8, IL-10, and CXCL-14 were significantly upregulated in DILI liver tissue. The expression level of IL-8 was closely associated with hepatic inflammation and fibrosis and may serve as a potential indicator of disease severity. CXCL-14 was identified as an independent factor associated with clinical prognosis and demonstrated promising prognostic performance in this cohort. These findings suggest that tissue chemokine profiling may have potential value for risk stratification in DILI, although further validation in larger prospective studies is warranted.