title: The role of the non-invasive serum marker FibroTest-ActiTest in the prediction of histological stage of fibrosis and activity in children with naïve chronic hepatitis B infection.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the non-invasive serum marker FibroTest-ActiTest (FT-AT) reliably predicts the histological stage of fibrosis and/or activity, and decreases the need for a liver biopsy. Twenty-five children with naïve chronic hepatitis B were analyzed for haptoglobin, alpha2-macroglobulin, apolipoprotein A1, bilirubin, gamma-glutamyl transferase, and alanine aminotransferase activity, and the FT-AT scores were computed. FT-AT scores were compared with histological data. FT predicted insignificant fibrosis in 14/23 (61%) patients at a cut-off level of 0.31. Nine patients (36%) had significant histological fibrosis, but none were predicted by FT. There was no correlation between FT scores and histological stage of fibrosis (r: -0.221, p = 0.228). All 4 patients with significant histological activity had corresponding significant activity in AT (100%). Fifteen out of the 19 patients (78.9%) with significant activity in AT had insignificant histological activity. At the cut-off level of 0.36, AT predicted insignificant activity in all 6 patients (100%). There was no correlation between AT scores and histological activity (r: 0.245, p = 0.237). According to histological data, 12 patients were candidates for treatment, but FT-AT did not predict 3 of them (25%). FT-AT does not appear ready for use in detecting either the stage of fibrosis or activity in children with chronic hepatitis B.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Istanbul University, Istanbul,Turkey. semraso@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Semra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sökücü
authors.forename: Selim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gökçe
authors.forename: Mine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Güllüoğlu
authors.forename: Ayşen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aydoğan
authors.forename: Coşkun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Celtik
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Durmaz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods*; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D008111:Liver Function Tests / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D018401:Sample Size
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D001798:Blood Proteins