The clinical significance of serum chitinase 3-like 1 in hepatitis B-related chronic liver diseases.

Zhenluo Jiang,Shuwei Wang,Jiancheng Jin,Yunsong Qian,Yaoren Hu,Dedong Zhu,Bingxiu Xiao,Zhigang Chen,Sheng Ying,Liyun Fu,Ting Cai

doi:10.1002/jcla.23200

Abstract

AimIn the present study, we purposed to determine serum chitinase 3‐like 1 (CHI3L1) expression characteristics in chronic liver diseases monoinfected with hepatitis B virus and analyze its diagnostic value in liver fibrosis.MethodsA total of 467 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, 312 liver cirrhosis (LC) patients, and 104 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients at our institution were enrolled, and clinical indicators were analyzed.ResultsOur data have shown that the expression level of serum CHI3L1 was steadily increased from CHB to LC to HCC (P < .001). Serum CHI3L1 expression levels were positively associated with liver stiffness measurement (LSM), fibrosis‐4 (FIB‐4) index, aspartate aminotransferase‐to‐platelet ratio index (APRI), and HCC stage. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve proved that serum CHI3L1 was superior to other noninvasive methods (LSM, FIB‐4, and APRI) with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.97 in diagnosing significant fibrosis.ConclusionsSerum CHI3L1 harbors significant clinical value in chronic liver diseases infected with hepatitis B virus, especially in the diagnosis of fibrosis.

Highlights

With an estimated prevalence of more than 240 million worldwide, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major public healthcare burden, especially in Asia
Our results indicate that chitinase 3-like 1 (CHI3L1) could serve as a serum biomarker for diagnosing liver fibrosis and for monitoring the process of chronic liver diseases monoinfected with HBV
The gene of CHI3L1 is located on human chromosome 1q32.1, which is composed of 10 exons

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

With an estimated prevalence of more than 240 million worldwide, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major public healthcare burden, especially in Asia. Johansen et al[13] reported that the expression level of CHI3L1 in serum could evaluate the degree of liver fibrosis. These proofs suggest that CHI3L1 can be promising novel targets for fibrosis diagnosis. The purposes of this study were to explore the expression feature of serum CHI3L1 in the different stages of patients infected with HBV and to analyze the diagnostic value of CHI3Ll in liver fibrosis combined with the pathological data of liver biopsy. Our results indicate that CHI3L1 could serve as a serum biomarker for diagnosing liver fibrosis and for monitoring the process of chronic liver diseases monoinfected with HBV

| METHODS

Findings

| DISCUSSION