title: Serum NX-DCP as a New Noninvasive Model to Predict Significant Liver Fibrosis in Chronic Hepatitis C.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Finding a noninvasive method to predict liver fibrosis using inexpensive and easy-to-use markers is important.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to clarify whether NX-des-γ-carboxyprothrombin (NX-DCP) could become a new noninvasive model to predict liver fibrosis in hepatitis C virus (HCV) related liver disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a prospective cohort study on a consecutive group of 101 patients who underwent liver biopsy for HCV-related liver disease at Kobe University Hospital. Laboratory measurements were performed on the same day as the biopsy. Factors associated with significant fibrosis (F3-4) were assessed by multivariate analyses. A comparison of predictive ability between multivariate factors and abovementioned noninvasive models was also performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Increase in serum NX-DCP was significantly related to increase in fibrosis stage (P = 0.006). Moreover, NX-DCP was a multivariate factor associated with the presence of significant fibrosis F 3-4 (median 21 of F0-2 group vs. median 22 of F3-4 group with P = 0.002). The AUC of NX-DCP showed no significant differences compared with those of the AST-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), modified-APRI, the Göteborg University Cirrhosis Index (GUCI), the Lok index, the Hui score, cirrhosis discriminating score (CDS) and the Pohl score (P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NX-DCP correlated positively with fibrosis stage and could discriminate well between HCV-related patients with or without significant fibrosis. Moreover, NX-DCP had a similar predictive ability to the abovementioned models, and thereby could be a new noninvasive prediction tool for fibrosis.
authors: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors: Masaya
authors: M
authors: Saito
authors: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan ; Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors: Yoshihiko
authors: Y
authors: Yano
authors: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors: Hirotaka
authors: H
authors: Hirano
authors: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors: Kenji
authors: K
authors: Momose
authors: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan ; Division of Metabolomics Research, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors: Masaru
authors: M
authors: Yoshida
authors: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors: Takeshi
authors: T
authors: Azuma
keywords: Biopsy; Chronic; Hepatitis C; Liver Fibrosis; des-Gamma-Carboxy Prothrombin