Noninvasive Biomarkers of Liver Fibrosis: Clinical Applications and Future Directions.
Chronic liver disease is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Current strategies for assessing prognosis and treatment rely on accurate assessment of disease stage. Liver biopsy is the gold standard for assessing fibrosis stage but has many limitations. Noninvasive biomarkers of liver fibrosis have been extensively designed, studied, and validated in a variety of liver diseases. With the advent of direct acting antivirals and the rise in obesity-related liver disease, there is a growing need to establish these noninvasive methods in the clinic. In addition, it has become increasingly clear over the last few years that noninvasive biomarkers can also be used to monitor response to antifibrotic therapies and predict liver outcomes, including hepatocellular carcinoma development. This review highlights the most well-established noninvasive biomarkers to-date, with a particular emphasis on serum and imaging-based methodologies.
GI unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114.
Daniel L
DL
Motola
A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 149 Thirteenth St., Suite 2301, Charlestown MA 02129, 617-643-0193 (p), 617-726-7422 (f).
Peter
P
Caravan
GI unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, 617-724-7562 (p), 617-643-0446 (f).
Raymond T
RT
Chung
Division of Surgical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit Street, WRN 401, Boston, MA, 02114, 617-726-4174 (p), 617-726-4442 (f).
Bryan C
BC
Fuchs
biomarkers; fibrosis; liver; molecular imaging; noninvasive; serum