The Diagnostic Performance of Serum Hyaluronic Acid and Collagen III in Differentiating Liver Fibrosis in HCV-Induced Patients

Abstract

Abstract Introduction/Objective Chronic liver diseases may lead to inflammation and progressive scarring, causing irreversible hepatic damage (cirrhosis). To avoid the complications of liver puncture biopsy, Collagen III and Hyaluronic acid are studied as non-invasive markers of liver fibrosis in chronic liver diseases. Aim of the work: Discovering the diagnostic role of serum Hyaluronic acid and Collagen III in liver fibrosis associated with chronic HCV patients. Methods/Case Report The study was performed on 118 patients with liver fibrosis associated with chronic HCV (60 males and 58 females) and 50 age-matched healthy subjects (27 males and 23 females). Liver function tests were measured, including ALT, AST, [AST/ ALT] ratio, albumin, total bilirubin, and platelets counts. APRI was also calculated as [AST/ (upper limits of normal)/ platelets count 109/L]×100. Serum levels of Collagen III (ng/ml) and hyaluronic acid (µg/L) were determined. Plotted receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess and compare the diagnostic accuracy of biomarkers. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) The area under ROC curve of collagen III in discriminating liver fibrosis in patients associated with chronic HCV infection and healthy ones was 0.805; P< 0.0001. The Sensitivity and Specificity were 62% and 96%, respectively. While the area under ROC curve of hyaluronic acid in discriminating liver fibrosis patients associated with chronic HCV infection from healthy volunteers was 0.832; P < 0.0001. The Sensitivity and Specificity were 72% and 94%, respectively. Also, there was no significant correlation between levels of collagen III and hyaluronic acid; (r=0.01 & P=0.714). Conclusion Collagen III and Hyaluronic acid can identify patients with liver fibrosis with a detection rate of 62% and 72%, respectively. So, both biomarkers are considered powerful non-invasive methods in discriminating and diagnosing liver fibrosis in chronic HCV patients.