Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Sep 17:2019:3862024.
doi: 10.1155/2019/3862024. eCollection 2019.

Exploring the Diagnostic Potential of Serum Golgi Protein 73 for Hepatic Necroinflammation and Fibrosis in Chronic HCV Infection with Different Stages of Liver Injuries

Xiangjun Qian  1 , Sujun Zheng  2 , Leijie Wang  1 , Mingjie Yao  1 , Guiwen Guan  1 , Xiajie Wen  1 , Ling Zhang  3 , Qiang Xu  1 , Xiangmei Chen  1 , Jingmin Zhao  4 , Zhongping Duan  2 , Fengmin Lu  1
Affiliations

Exploring the Diagnostic Potential of Serum Golgi Protein 73 for Hepatic Necroinflammation and Fibrosis in Chronic HCV Infection with Different Stages of Liver Injuries

Xiangjun Qian et al. Dis Markers. .

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors have no conflict of interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Serum Golgi protein 73 (GP73) levels were gradually increased along with liver disease progression in patients with chronic HCV infection. (a) Comparison of serum GP73 levels in the healthy control (HC), Cohort A, and Cohort B. (b) Comparison of serum GP73 levels in the healthy control (HC), precirrhotic chronic hepatitis C (pre-Cir CHC), compensated liver cirrhosis (CLC), and decompensated liver cirrhosis (DLC) patients in Cohort A. (c) Comparison of serum GP73 levels in different scores of Child-Pugh. ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗P < 0.01, and ∗∗∗P < 0.001.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Serum Golgi protein 73 (GP73) levels were elevated obviously along with liver necroinflammation grade and fibrosis stage. (a, c) The correlation between serum GP73 levels and liver necroinflammation grade in Cohort A and Cohort B, respectively. (b, d) The correlation between serum GP73 levels and liver fibrosis stage in Cohort A and Cohort B, respectively. ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗P < 0.01, and ∗∗∗P < 0.001.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of serum Golgi protein 73 (GP73) levels in patients with chronic HCV infection before and undergoing (6 months to 12 months after initiating the therapy) treatment with PEGylated interferons (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin. ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗P < 0.01, and ∗∗∗P < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Mohd Hanafiah K., Groeger J., Flaxman A. D., Wiersma S. T. Global epidemiology of hepatitis C virus infection: new estimates of age-specific antibody to HCV seroprevalence. Hepatology. 2013;57(4):1333–1342. doi: 10.1002/hep.26141. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gower E., Estes C., Blach S., Razavi-Shearer K., Razavi H. Global epidemiology and genotype distribution of the hepatitis C virus infection. Journal of Hepatology. 2014;61(1) Supplement:S45–S57. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2014.07.027. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Perz J. F., Armstrong G. L., Farrington L. A., Hutin Y. J. F., Bell B. P. The contributions of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infections to cirrhosis and primary liver cancer worldwide. Journal of Hepatology. 2006;45(4):529–538. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2006.05.013. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Matsuzaki K., Murata M., Yoshida K., et al. Chronic inflammation associated with hepatitis C virus infection perturbs hepatic transforming growth factor β signaling, promoting cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatology. 2007;46(1):48–57. doi: 10.1002/hep.21672. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Morishima C., Shiffman M. L., Dienstag J. L., et al. Reduction in hepatic inflammation is associated with less fibrosis progression and fewer clinical outcomes in advanced hepatitis C. American Journal of Gastroenterology. 2012;107(9):1388–1398. doi: 10.1038/ajg.2012.137. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms