The gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase to platelet ratio predicts liver inflammation in chronic hepatitis B with normal or mildly elevated alanine transaminase

Abstract

The gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) to platelet ratio (GPR) was proposed as a novel index for predicting liver inflammation in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. We aimed to investigate GPR for predicting significant liver inflammation in CHB patients with normal (≤1×upper limit of normal, ULN) or mildly elevated (≤2×ULN) alanine transaminase (ALT). 431 treatment-naïve CHB patients with normal or mildly elevated ALT who underwent liver biopsy were enrolled. Comparision of GPR and other parameters for significant liver inflammation (G≥3). For patients with ALT≤2×ULN, the receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) of GPR in predicting significant liver inflammation were 0.837 (95%CI 0.796 to 0.878), 0.860 (95%CI 0.809 to 0.910) and 0.809 (95%CI 0.739 to 0.878) in the entire patients, HBeAg positive and HBeAg negative CHB patients, respectively. The diagnostic performance of GPR was higher than ALT (P<0.001, P<0.001, respectively), aspartate transaminase (AST) (P=0.001, P=0.003, respectively) and GGT (P=0.002, P=0.002, respectively) in the entire and HBeAg positive patients, but was comparable with AST (P=0.096) and GGT (P=0.273) in the HBeAg negative CHB patients. For patients with ALT≤1×ULN, the diagnostic accuracy of GPR was significantly higher than ALT, AST and GGT in the entire (P<0.001, P=0.008 and P=0.043, respectively) and HBeAg positive CHB patients (P<0.001, P=0.009 and P=0.024, respectively), while was comparable to AST (P=0.209) and GGT(P=0.555) in the HBeAg negative CHB patients. GPR has a better diagnostic value than conventional parameters to predict significant liver inflammation in CHB patients with normal or mildly elevated ALT levels, especially for HBeAg positive CHB.