Correlation of serum thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor levels with liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Abstract

Objective To analyze the levels of serum thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with different degrees of hepatic fibrosis, and to evaluate the value of TAFI in the evaluation of liver fibrosis. Methods Forty six patients with CHB who underwent liver biopsy from June 2016 to March 2017 in Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital were enrolled. According to liver fibrosis stage (S0-4), they were divided into mild liver fibrosis group (S0-1, n=16), significant liver fibrosis group (S2, n=15) and severe liver fibrosis group (S3-4, n=15). At the same time, 16 healthy subjects were randomly selected as health controls in the physical examination center of the hospital. Serum TAFI levels were analyzed in each group, and the receiver operating curve (ROC) was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of TAFI in CHB patients with significant liver fibrosis and severe liver fibrosis (S≥2). The SPSS 23.0 software was used to analyze the data. Results Serum TAFI levels in the mild liver fibrosis group, significant liver fibrosis group, severe liver fibrosis group and health controls were (63.4±18.2), (43.8±20.4), (27.5±19.2) and (71.3±25.6) ng/mL, the difference between the four groups was statistically significant (F=13.512, P 0.05). Conclusion The serum TAFI level is negatively correlated with the degree of liver fibrosis in CHB patients, which has a good diagnostic value for liver fibrosis (S≥2) in patients with CHB. Key words: Hepatitis B, chronic; Liver fibrosis; Thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor