[Determination of serum argininosuccinate lyase in diagnosing liver diseases].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the value of the determination of the levels of serum argininosuccinate lyase (ASL) in diagnosing various liver diseases.


METHODS
Two hundred and ninety-one patients with various liver diseases, 257 patients with non-liver disease, and 32 healthy controls were recruited for this study and their serum ASL, ALT, AST, GGT, LDH, ALP, and total bilirubin (TBil) levels were determined. Liver biopsies were performed on 31 patients with hepatopathy.


RESULTS
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the sensitivity and specificity of ASL in assessing liver diseases were 100% and 91.1% (at cut-off values of 8 U/L), those of ALT were 97.6% and 24.7% and those of AST were 83.8% and 28.3% (both at cut-off values = 40.0 U/L), respectively. The levels of ASL in various liver disease patients were: in liver cancer - acute hepatitis - liver cirrhosis - chronic hepatitis. A positive correlation (r = 0.417) was observed between serum ASL levels (86.9+/-26.5) and scores of histopathological inflammation grading (9.83+/-3.36).


CONCLUSIONS
ASL is of higher sensitivity and specificity than those of ALT and AST for diagnosing liver diseases. ASL may be used as a useful marker in estimating hepatopathy.
Feng
Jia-fu
JF
Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnosis of Education Ministry, School of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
Chen
Ting-mei
TM
Tu
Zhi-guang
ZG
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001123:Argininosuccinate Lyase / Q000097:blood*; D001331:Automation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D044967:Serum / Q000737:chemistry; D055815:Young Adult
D001123:Argininosuccinate Lyase