title: Clinical implications of serum Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2-binding protein in treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the relationship between serum Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2-binding protein (WFA+-M2BP) levels and liver histological findings for patients with treatment naïve chronic hepatitis B (CHB).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 189 treatment naïve-CHB patients were analyzed. We examined the effect of pretreatment serum WFA+-M2BP levels on histological findings compared with other laboratory markers, including aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to platelet ratio index, Fibrosis-4 index, platelet count, AST to alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratio, and hyaluronic acid as liver fibrosis markers, and AST value, ALT value, and serum interferon-γ-inducible protein-10 level as liver inflammation markers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The WFA+-M2BP value ranged from 0.3 cut-off index (COI) to 12.9 COI (median value, 1.2 COI). The degree of liver fibrosis was significantly stratified according to WFA+-M2BP level in each group except for groups F2 and F3 and the degree of liver inflammation activity was significantly stratified according to WFA+-M2BP level in each group. For predicting F4, WFA+-M2BP level yielded the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) with a level of 0.87 and for predicting advanced liver fibrosis (≥F3) and significant liver fibrosis (≥F2), WFA+-M2BP level yielded the second highest AUROCs (both, 0.77) among six fibrotic markers. For predicting severe (A3) or significant liver inflammation activity (≥A2), AUROCs of WFA+-M2BP level were 0.78 and 0.76.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The WFA+-M2BP level can be a useful marker for assessing liver histological findings in patients with treatment-naïve CHB, although it has several limitations.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirayuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Enomoto
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kyohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kishino
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimono
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kunihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Chikage
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Takata
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoh
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aizawa
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takashima
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iijima
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishiguchi
keywords: Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2-binding protein; chronic hepatitis b; inflammation activity; liver fibrosis; serum marker