title: Determination of hepatocyte growth factor at early phase of acute pancreatitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) as a new predictor of severity in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) at early phase of disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  The studied group involved 40 patients (16 women and 24 men) with AP admitted to Ist Dept. of Surgery Jagiellonian University Medical College in Krakow. Twenty-four patients had mild and twelve severe form of AP. Glasgow and Imrie scores were calculated to evaluate severity of AP. HGF concentrations were measured by ELISA (R&D Systems) on days 1, 3 and 5 after admission within 48 hours after onset of symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum median concentrations of HGF was significantly higher in patients with severe versus mild clinical course of AP on each of the study days (7.61 vs 3.30 ng/mL, p = 0.05 on day 1; 7.19 vs 3.43, p = 0.04 on day 3 and 5.76 vs 2.42, p = 0.02 on day 5). HGF positively correlated with Glasgow and Imrie scores (R = 0.57 and R = 0.51). HGF negatively correlated with fetuin A, a negative acute phase protein (R = -0.60 on day 3 and R = -0.45 on day 5) and positively with CRP (R = 0.93; R = 0.80), SAA (R = 0.78; R = 0.82), IL-6 (R = 0.61; R = 0.77; R = 0.85 on day 1, 3 and 5, respectively) and PMN-elastase (R = 0.58; R = 0.64; R = 0.77). On day 1 of the study, HGF reached the diagnostic sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 50% for the detection of severe and moderate AP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum HGF correlates with several inflammatory markers and clinical scores (Glasgow, Imrie) in patients with AP and may be considered a new promising tool in assessing the severity of acute pancreatitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Mateusz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sporek
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, General Hospital in Wadowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Witold
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kolber
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostics, Chair of Clinical Biochemistry, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland. mbkusnie@cyf-kr.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Beata
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kusnierz-Cabala
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Diagnostics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Paulina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dumnicka
authors.affiliation: Ist Chair of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gurda-Duda
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuzniewski
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostics, Chair of Clinical Biochemistry, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Bogdan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Solnica
authors.affiliation: Ist Chair of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kulig
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011044:Poland; D011379:Prognosis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor