Evaluation of serum biomarkers of fibrosis and injury in Egyptian patients with chronic hepatitis C.
OBJECTIVE
We evaluated whether surrogate serum biomarkers for liver injury are comparable to liver biopsy in Egyptian patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.


METHODS
Two hundred and twenty Egyptian patients, 91% infected with genotype-4 HCV, undergoing liver biopsy during evaluation for interferon/ribavirin therapy.


METHODS
Liver biopsy scored by the Ishak method was compared to biochemical tests, platelet count and two fibrosis biomarkers: hyaluronic acid (HA) and YKL-40. Univariate and logistic regression analyses determined independent predictors of fibrotic, inflammatory, and fatty changes. Biomarkers were evaluated for ability to differentiate between severe fibrosis/cirrhosis and no/mild fibrosis.


RESULTS
Although increasing age, HA, YKL-40, AST, reduced platelet count, and AST and HA/platelet count ratios were associated with fibrosis by univariate analysis, the other variables were not significant after controlling for HA (p=0.0001) and age (p=0.004). Although age and some biomarkers were associated with inflammation, none remained significant after controlling for fibrosis. YKL-40 (p=0.04) and aspartate aminotransferase (p=0.05) remained associated with steatosis after controlling for fibrosis.


CONCLUSIONS
In Egyptians with chronic HCV, young patients with low levels of HA are at very low risk of fibrosis. This can limit the number of liver biopsies to those whose clinical findings conflict with the biomarker results.
Esmat
Gamal
G
National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt.
Metwally
Mohamed
M
Zalata
Khalid R
KR
Gadalla
Shahinaz
S
Abdel-Hamid
Mohamed
M
Abouzied
Amr
A
Shaheen
Abdel-Aziz
AA
El-Raziky
Maissa
M
Khatab
Hani
H
El-Kafrawy
Sherif
S
Mikhail
Nabiel
N
Magder
Laurence S
LS
Afdhal
Nezam H
NH
Strickland
G Thomas
GT
D054392:Adipokines; D000328:Adult; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D000071451:Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004534:Egypt; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000097:blood; D037102:Lectins; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009656:North America; D010976:Platelet Count
D054392:Adipokines; D015415:Biomarkers; C084533:CHI3L1 protein, human; D000071451:Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1; D006023:Glycoproteins; D037102:Lectins; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases