Fig. 2

IFI16 expression levels in livers from patients with ACLF, CHB, and healthy controls. Different degrees of damage can be observed in the liver tissue from CHB and HBV-ACLF patients, as demonstrated by H&E staining. IFI16 expression was observed in the livers of healthy donors and patients with HBV and was mainly detected in liver non-parenchymal cells, especially the inflammatory cells in the livers of HBV patients(a). There was a significant increase in IFI16 expression in ACLF patients compared with CHB patients and healthy controls (b). In detail, the intrahepatic IFI16 expression in patients with inflammation grade 4 was significantly higher than those with inflammation grade 0, 1, 2, or 3 (c). The expression of IFI16 protein is shown by western blotting (d). The protein level of IFI16 in the HBV-ACLF group was remarkably higher than that of the CHB and normal control groups (e). The expression of IFI16 was significantly positively correlated with HAI (f). No significant correlations were found between the IFI16 level and HBV DNA load (g). The intrahepatic IFI16 expression in patients with fibrosis stage 4 was also significantly higher than in those with fibrosis stage 0,1, or 2 (h)