Correlation between biliary proteins and disease activity in PSC patients.

<p>Bile from PSC patients showed a marked increase in biliary protein content. (<b>A</b>) Box plots of the protein concentration per volume show a marked increase for the PSC patients. If the PSC patients were classified based on disease activity, either by endoscopic findings (<b>C</b>) or by Mayo Risk score (<b>E</b>), the corresponding biliary protein concentrations showed significantly greater concentrations in the patients with high PSC activity than in those with low activity. If the bile samples were normalised by the bile-acid content, the results were similar (<b>B,</b> controls versus all the PSC patients; <b>D,</b> PSC patients classified by endoscopic findings; <b>F,</b> PSC patients classified by Mayo Risk Score). Box plots of the protein concentration normalised by the BA concentration. (control = 24, PSC = 45, low MRS = 25, intermediate MRS = 20; low endoscopic = 26; high endoscopy activity = 19; ns = not significant; *p<0.05; **p<0.005).