title: Autotaxin as a novel serum marker of liver fibrosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The clinical significance of autotaxin (ATX), a key enzyme for the production of the bioactive lysophospholipid lysophosphatidic acid remains unknown. Serum ATX enzymatic activity reportedly increases in parallel with liver fibrosis and exhibits a gender difference.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum ATX antigen level, measured easier than the activity, was evaluated as a marker of liver fibrosis in 2 cohorts of chronic liver disease caused by hepatitis C virus.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the first cohort, serum ATX level correlated significantly with liver fibrosis stage and was the best parameter for prediction of cirrhosis with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.756 in male and 0.760 in female, when compared with serum hyaluronic acid and aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index, an established marker of liver fibrosis. In another cohort, serum ATX level correlated significantly with liver stiffness, a novel reliable marker of liver fibrosis, being the second-best parameter in male (AUROC, 0.799) and in female (AUROC, 0.876) for prediction of significant fibrosis, and the best parameter in male (AUROC, 0.863) and the third-best parameter in female (AUROC, 0.872) for prediction of cirrhosis, both of which were judged by liver stiffness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum ATX level may be a novel marker of liver fibrosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hayato
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Ryunosuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ohkawa
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Masuzaki
authors.forename: Ryosuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tateishi
authors.forename: Haruhiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Kazuaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tejima
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kume
authors.forename: Tomomi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwai
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomiya
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Takako
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
authors.forename: Natsuko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ohtomo
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanoue
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Omata
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Igarashi
authors.forename: Junken
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koike
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yatomi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D019540:Area Under Curve; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes / Q000097:blood*; D043264:Phosphodiesterase I / Q000097:blood*; D010727:Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases; D011755:Pyrophosphatases / Q000097:blood*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000099189:Lysophospholipase D
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; D043264:Phosphodiesterase I; D010727:Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases; D011755:Pyrophosphatases; D000099189:Lysophospholipase D