Τίτλος:
Evaluation of liver fibrosis in patients with thalassemia: The important
role of hyaluronic acid
Γλώσσες Τεκμηρίου:
Αγγλικά
Περίληψη:
Patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia major often develop
liver fibrosis due to liver iron overload and/or hepatitis virus C (HCV)
infection. Hyaluronic acid (HA) plays a prominent role in the
pathogenesis of liver fibrosis and the elevation of serum HA
concentration is due to either increased synthesis by inflammatory cells
and hepatic stellate cells or impaired degradation by sinusoidal
endothelial cells (SECs) and thus is proposed as a non-invasive
biomarker of liver fibrosis either by itself and/or included in the
Hepascore formula. In this study we evaluated prospectively a screening
of liver fibrosis in 201 adult patients aged 19-54 years with
transfusion-dependent thalassemia major, based on HA measurements.
41/201 patients were HCV-RNA (+). HA was measured with a turbidimetric
assay applied on a clinical chemistry analyzer. The Hepascore was
computed from the results by using the model previously published. The
main results of the study showed that: a) HA levels were increased in
110/201 (55%) thalassemia patients 85.0 +/- 10.3 ng/ml, ranged from
15.0 to 1495.0 mu g/l, compared to 20.8 +/- 7.4 mu g/l reference
laboratory values, p<0.001, b) HA levels were significantly higher in
HCV-RNA( +) compared to HCV-RNA(-) patients, 171.6 +/- 202 vs 53.8 +/-
35.5 mu g/l, p<0.0001 c) no significant correlations were found between
HA levels and/or Hepascore with ferritin and liver iron content (LIC)
assessed with MRI (p>0.324 and p>0.270, respectively). Our findings
indicate that hyaluronic acid measurements contribute to the assessment
of liver fibrosis in patients with thalassemia and might be helpful for
further evaluation of patients with liver biopsy if this is truly
needed. Furthermore, liver fibrosis in thalassemia seems to be
independent from liver siderosis. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved.
Συγγραφείς:
Papastamataki, Maria
Delaporta, Polyxeni
Premetis, Evangelos and
Kattamis, Antonios
Ladis, Vassilios
Papassotiriou, Ioannis
Περιοδικό:
BLOOD CELLS MOLECULES AND DISEASES
Εκδότης:
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
Λέξεις-κλειδιά:
Thalassemia; Liver fibrosis; Hepascore; Hyaluronic acid
DOI:
10.1016/j.bcmd.2010.06.002
