Serum WFA+ -M2BP levels for evaluation of early stages of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

Abstract

BACKGROUND & AIMS:

Accurate evaluation of liver fibrosis is crucial for predicting progression of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. We assessed the utility of a novel fibrosis glycobiomarker Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2-binding protein (WFA+ -M2BP) for evaluating liver fibrosis and disease progression in patients with chronic HBV infection.

METHODS:

We enrolled 774 patients with chronic HBV infection, with or without fibrosis, diagnosed by liver biopsy/FibroScan. Patients who underwent liver biopsy (n = 297) were divided into training (n = 221) and validation (n = 76) groups. Serum WFA+ -M2BP values were measured and compared with FIB-4 index, aspartate aminotransferase (AST)-to-platelet ratio (APRI) and AST-to-alanine aminotransferase ratio (AAR) using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.

RESULTS:

Serum WFA+ -M2BP levels increased significantly with fibrosis progression (P < 0.0001). Area under the ROC curve of WFA+ -M2BP for diagnosing significant fibrosis was higher than that of FIB-4 (P = 0.198), APRI (P = 0.017) and AAR (P < 0.001), with sensitivity and specificity in the training set of 60.5% and 79.8% and validation set of 59.5% and 82.1%, respectively. Serum WFA+ -M2BP levels were significantly correlated with FibroScan values (P < 0.0001) and improved the accuracy of FibroScan in assessing significant fibrosis. Changes in WFA+ -M2BP levels were parallel with those in FibroScan values during nucleot(s)ide analogues therapy in patients with chronic HBV infection.

CONCLUSIONS:

WFA+ -M2BP is an accurate serum indicator for assessing early stages of liver fibrosis and may monitor regression of fibrosis during the treatment of chronic HBV infection. WFA+ -M2BP provides a simple and reliable alternative or complementary method to liver biopsy and FibroScan.

• Authors: Xia Zou, Ming-Yu Zhu, De-Min Yu, Wei Li, Dong-Hua Zhang, Fei-Jie Lu, Qi-Ming Gong, Feng Liu, Jie-Hong Jiang, Min-Hua Zheng, Atsushi Kuno, Hisashi Narimatsu, Yan Zhang, Xin-Xin Zhang
• Journal: Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver (Liver Int) Vol. 37 Issue 1 Pg. 35-44 (01 2017) ISSN: 1478-3231 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 27300763 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Validation Study)
• Copyright: © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Chemical References

• Antigens, Neoplasm
• Biomarkers
• Membrane Glycoproteins
• Plant Lectins
• Receptors, N-Acetylglucosamine
• TAA90K protein, human
• wisteria lectin

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Aged
• Antigens, Neoplasm (blood)
• Biomarkers (blood)
• China
• Disease Progression
• Elasticity Imaging Techniques
• Female
• Hepatitis B, Chronic (blood, complications)
• Humans
• Linear Models
• Liver (pathology)
• Liver Cirrhosis (blood, pathology)
• Male
• Membrane Glycoproteins (blood)
• Middle Aged
• Plant Lectins
• ROC Curve
• Receptors, N-Acetylglucosamine
• Retrospective Studies
• Young Adult