Clinical significance of serum Wisteria floribunda agglutinin positive Mac‐2‐binding protein level in non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis

Abstract

Aim To examine the relationship between the Wisteria floribunda agglutinin positive Mac‐2‐binding protein (WFA+‐M2BP) level and histological findings for patients with non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Methods A total of 134 NASH patients (mean age, 51.7 years) were analyzed. We examined the effect of WFA+‐M2BP level on severity of liver fibrosis comparing with other laboratory markers, including aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratio, AST to platelet ratio index (APRI), FIB‐4 index, platelet count and hyaluronic acid as serum liver fibrosis markers. Receiver–operator curve (ROC) analysis was performed for calculating the area under the ROC (AUROC). Results The WFA+‐M2B P‐value ranged from 0.2 cut‐off index (COI) to 9.6 COI (median, 0.9). The median values in each fibrosis stage were: 0.7 COI in F1, 0.7 COI in F2, 1.2 COI in F3 and 2.4 COI in F4 (P < 0.001). For predicting liver cirrhosis (F4), WFA+‐M2BP level had the AUROC of 0.854 (sensitivity, 69.2%; specificity, 88.4%) and for predicting advanced liver fibrosis (≥F3), WFA+‐M2BP level yielded the second highest AUROC with a level of 0.842 (sensitivity, 73.7%; specificity, 80.2%) and for predicting significant liver fibrosis (≥F2), WFA+‐M2BP level yielded the highest AUROC with a level of 0.663 (sensitivity, 47.2%; specificity, 78.6%) among six liver fibrosis markers. The median values in patients with ballooning scores 1 (n = 58) and 2 (n = 76) were 0.6 and 1.1 COI, respectively (P < 0.001). Conclusion Serum WFA+‐M2BP level can be useful for assessing liver histological findings in patients with NASH.

Serum Wisteria floribunda agglutinin‐positive Mac‐2 binding protein more reliably distinguishes liver fibrosis stages in non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease than serum Mac‐2 binding protein

“…By contrast, the serum levels in NAFLD appear to be lower than those in other liver diseases. In this study, the median levels were similar to those reported in previous research . However, the cut‐off levels for each fibrosis stage differed between previous reports and this study.…”

“…The median values in PBC and AIH were 0.7 vs 1.5, 1.4 vs 2.1, 2.0 vs 3.3, and 3.0 vs 9.8 for stages 1–4, respectively . The median values in NAFLD were 0.66–0.7, 0.7–0.93, 1.2–1.33, and 1.98–2.4, respectively . Even if the fibrosis stage was identical, the median/mean values varied among the chronic liver diseases.…”

“…Serum M2BP and WFA + ‐M2BP levels could be useful biomarkers to estimate liver fibrosis in various chronic liver diseases such as chronic HCV infection, PBC, AIH, and NAFLD . In NAFLD patients, serum M2BP levels are associated with liver fibrosis and hepatocyte ballooning and could be used to distinguish between patients with and without NASH and to diagnose the fibrosis stage .…”

Serum Wisteria floribunda agglutinin‐positive Mac‐2‐binding protein for patients with chronic hepatitis B and C: a comparative study

“…These results suggest that WFA + -M2BP could be a useful indicator for predicting liver fibrosis regardless of aetiologies of viral hepatitis, which are in accordance with previous reports. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] On the other hand, Toshima et al 11 reported that AUROC of serum WFA + -M2BP values for predicting F4 in patients with HCV-related disease was 0.795 (cut-off value, 3.67), whereas in our data, AUROC for F4 was 0.844 (cut-off value, 2.42). The reason for this discrepancy remains unclear, and further validation will be needed in the future.…”

Serum Wisteria floribunda agglutinin‐positive Mac‐2‐binding protein levels and liver fibrosis: A meta‐analysis

“…Characteristics of these studies are shown in Table 1. 12,14,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] All studies were published between January 2013 and September 2016. The quality of each eligible study, assessed according to the QUADAS-2 criteria, is reported in Table S2.…”