Abstract

Background and Aim Serum Golgi protein 73 (GP73) is a promising alternative biomarker of chronic liver diseases, but most data are from patients with HBV infection rather than HCV. Materials and Methods Two independent cohorts of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients from the 5th Medical Centre of the Chinese PLA General Hospital (n = 174) and Beijing Youan Hospital (n = 120) with different histories of HCV infection were enrolled. The correlations between serum GP73 and other biochemical indices, as well as its correlations with different stages of liver disease progression, were investigated. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was employed to evaluate the diagnostic potential of serum GP73 for liver necroinflammation and fibrosis, and comparisons of the diagnostic efficiency with traditional indices of hepatic liver injuries were further investigated. Results Levels of serum GP73 were found significantly elevated in patients with moderate to severe inflammatory grade (G ≥ 2) and/or with advanced fibrotic stages (F ≥ 3) in both cohorts (P < 0.05, respectively), as compared to those with a normal or mild liver lesion. Further ROC analysis demonstrated that serum GP73 was comparable to serum ALT and AST in diagnosing the liver necroinflammation grade at G ≥ 2, but its diagnostic values for advanced fibrosis (F ≥ 3) and cirrhosis (F = 4) were limited when compared to APRI and FIB-4, and FIB-4 exhibited the best performance. Notably, an obvious elevation of serum GP73 was observed after patients received PEG-IFN and ribavirin treatment. Conclusions Serum GP73 is an important biomarker in evaluating and monitoring the disease progression including liver necroinflammation and fibrosis in patients with chronic HCV infection, but the value is limited for diagnosing advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis in comparison with APRI and FIB-4.

Highlights

  • About 80~150 million persons are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) worldwide [1, 2]

  • Chronic HCV infection is the major cause of viral hepatitis, which progresses into hepatic fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma, and 350,000 deaths occur each year due to all HCV-related causes [3, 4]

  • Several noninvasive methods for fibrosis assessment have been proposed as the alternatives to liver biopsy, such as the AST-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), fibrosis index based on four factors (FIB-4), and transient elastography (TE) which are based on blood indices and imaging modalities, respectively [12, 13]

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Summary

Introduction

About 80~150 million persons are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) worldwide [1, 2]. Several noninvasive methods for fibrosis assessment have been proposed as the alternatives to liver biopsy, such as the AST-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), fibrosis index based on four factors (FIB-4), and transient elastography (TE) which are based on blood indices and imaging modalities, respectively [12, 13]. Serum GP73 is an important biomarker in evaluating and monitoring the disease progression including liver necroinflammation and fibrosis in patients with chronic HCV infection, but the value is limited for diagnosing advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis in comparison with APRI and FIB-4

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