title: A serum "sweet-doughnut" protein facilitates fibrosis evaluation and therapy assessment in patients with viral hepatitis.
abstract: Although liver fibrosis reflects disease severity in chronic hepatitis patients, there has been no simple and accurate system to evaluate the therapeutic effect based on fibrosis. We developed a glycan-based immunoassay, FastLec-Hepa, to fill this unmet need. FastLec-Hepa automatically detects unique fibrosis-related glyco-alteration in serum hyperglycosylated Mac-2 binding protein within 20 min. The serum FastLec-Hepa counts increased with advancing fibrosis and illustrated significant differences in medians between all fibrosis stages. FastLec-Hepa is sufficiently sensitive and quantitative to evaluate the effects of PEG-interferon-α/ribavirin therapy in a short post-therapeutic interval. The obtained fibrosis progression is equivalent to -0.30 stages/year in patients with sustained virological response, and 0.01 stages/year in relapse/nonresponders. Furthermore, long-term follow-up of the severely affected patients found hepatocellular carcinoma developed in patients after therapy whose FastLec-Hepa counts remained above a designated cutoff value. FastLec-Hepa is the only assay currently available for clinically beneficial therapy evaluation through quantitation of disease severity.
authors: Research Center for Medical Glycoscience (RCMG), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan.
authors: Atsushi
authors: A
authors: Kuno
authors: Yuzuru
authors: Y
authors: Ikehara
authors: Yasuhito
authors: Y
authors: Tanaka
authors: Kiyoaki
authors: K
authors: Ito
authors: Atsushi
authors: A
authors: Matsuda
authors: Satoru
authors: S
authors: Sekiya
authors: Shuhei
authors: S
authors: Hige
authors: Michiie
authors: M
authors: Sakamoto
authors: Masayoshi
authors: M
authors: Kage
authors: Masashi
authors: M
authors: Mizokami
authors: Hisashi
authors: H
authors: Narimatsu
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood*; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use; D037102:Lectins / Q000276:immunology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D000998:Antiviral Agents; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D037102:Lectins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C114782:TAA90K protein, human; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D012254:Ribavirin; C100416:peginterferon alfa-2a