title: Serum sphingomyelin has potential to reflect hepatic injury in chronic hepatitis B virus infection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the relation between serum sphingolipids and hepatic injury in chronic HBV infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cohort of participants including 48 healthy persons, 103 chronic HBV-infected patients containing chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and HBV-related cirrhosis were included. High performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was performed to detect serum sphingolipids. The serological indicators were detected and quantified. The valid liver biopsy specimens were acquired from twenty five CHB.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty four serum sphingolipids were detected. There were eighteen sphingolipids showing significant differences between the healthy control and chronic HBV infection groups. In patients with chronic HBV infection, fourteen sphingolipids differed significantly between CHB and HBV-related cirrhosis. Among sphingolipids with a significant difference in both HBV infection vs healthy control and CHB vs cirrhosis, seven sphingolipids were independently related to the presence of cirrhosis. SM(d18:1/24:0), a sphingomyelin (SM) compound, was found to have a negative correlation with model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score. Additionally, SM(d18:1/24:0) was demonstrated to have a correlation with inflammation grades by liver biopsy in CHB patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum sphingolipids have close relation with hepatic injury in chronic HBV infection, especially that SM(d18:1/24:0) might be a potential serum biomarker.
authors.affiliation: Artificial Liver Center, Beijing YouAn Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Su-Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Artificial Liver Center, Beijing YouAn Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; Institute of Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Diseases, the First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jun-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Artificial Liver Center, Beijing YouAn Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Artificial Liver Center, Beijing YouAn Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jing-Yun
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Artificial Liver Center, Beijing YouAn Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Artificial Liver Center, Beijing YouAn Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Artificial Liver Center, Beijing YouAn Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China. Electronic address: zhjl@imm.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jin-Lan
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Artificial Liver Center, Beijing YouAn Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: duan2517@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhong-Ping
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Duan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013109:Sphingomyelins / Q000097:blood*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D013109:Sphingomyelins
keywords: MELD score; cirrhosis; hepatic injury; hepatitis B virus; liver biopsy; sphingolipids