Abstract: Objective To study the changes of aspartic acid-specific cysteine protease-1 (Caspase-1) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC).Methods A total of 54 PBC patients admitted to our hospital from April 2018 to April 2019 were selected as the subjects of the study and set as the observation group. In addition, 54 volunteers who were physically healthy during the same period were selected as the subjects of the study and set as the healthy group.EDTA-K2 anticoagulant whole blood was extracted from patients (before treatment) and volunteers after admission. After PBMC separation, quantitative PCR amplification was performed to check mRNA levels of Caspase-1 and IL-18. The differences of Caspase-1 and IL-18 levels between the two groups and patients with different cirrhosis grades were compared. Then, Spearman coefficient was used to analyze the correlation between Caspase-1 and IL-18 levels and cirrhosis grades. Results The levels of Caspase-1 and IL-18 in the observation group were higher than those in the healthy group(P<0.05).The levels of Caspase-1 and il-18 in different patients were observed, and the levels of C-grade > B-grade > A-grade(all P<0.05). Caspase-1 and IL-18 levels were positively correlated with cirrhosis grade, both with P< 0.05.Conclusion The levels of Caspase-1 and IL-18 in PBMC of PBC patients were significantly increased, and the expression levels of Caspase-1 and IL-18 were positively correlated with the grade of cirrhosis, and Caspase-1 and IL-18 could be involved in the occurrence and development of the disease.

Key words: Primary biliary cholangitis;Peripheral blood mononuclear cells;Aspartic acid-specific cysteine proteinase-1;Interleukin-18;Cirrhosis grade