Usefulness of serum hepatic fibrosis markers in the diagnosis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
OBJECTIVE
In the present study, we examined the usefulness of serum hepatic fibrosis markers for the diagnosis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).


METHODS
The subjects were 16 patients with NASH and 9 patients with fatty liver (FL). All were negative for serum HBsAg, HCVAb, antibodies related with autoimmune diseases, alcohol intake, and drug abuse. We measured the biochemical markers for liver function, hepatic fibrosis markers such as type III procollagen N-peptide (PIIIP), type IV collagen (TyIV), hyaluronic acid (HA) and leptin, and compared these data with histological findings of biopsy specimens. In addition, we examined the diagnostic efficiency of fibrosis markers and leptin for NASH using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Body mass index (BMI), fasting blood sugar, triglyceride, and degree of fat droplets, inflammation, iron deposition and fibrosis were significantly higher in the NASH group compared with the FL group.


RESULTS
The diagnostic efficiencies of NASH% (cut-off value) were 68% (100ng/mL) for TyIV, 68% (10ng/mL) for HA, 64% (0.62U/mL) for PIIIP and 56% (8pg/mL) for leptin.


CONCLUSIONS
From these results, it is suggested that the serum hepatic fibrosis markers such as TyIV, in addition to liver biopsy, may be useful for the diagnosis of NASH.
Sasaki
Nozomi
N
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
Ueno
Takato
T
Morita
Yasuyo
Y
Nagata
Eisuke
E
Sata
Michio
M
D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D024141:Collagen Type IV / Q000097:blood*; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005355:Fibrosis; D006801:Humans; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood*; D011347:Procollagen / Q000097:blood*; D012372:ROC Curve; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood
D015415:Biomarkers; D024141:Collagen Type IV; D020738:Leptin; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011347:Procollagen; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; C041876:procollagen Type III-N-terminal peptide; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid