Abstract
This study aimed to assess the feasibility of GP73 as a diagnostic marker for liver inflammation and fibrosis in chronic HBV patients with normal or slightly raised ALT (<2 ULN) and to develop models based on GP73 and other biochemical parameters to improve diagnostic accuracy. Serum GP73 levels were analyzed in 220 chronic HBV patients with normal or slightly raised ALT who underwent liver biopsy. The results showed that the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was 0.806 for predicting significant liver inflammation (≥G2), while it was 0.742 for predicting significant fibrosis (≥S2). These results suggest that GP73 has higher diagnostic value for liver inflammation than liver fibrosis. Combining GP73, AST and ALB, as a diagnostic model for predicting significant liver inflammation, resulted in superior diagnostic performance over GP73 alone (AUC value increased from 0.806 to 0.854, z = 2.299, P = 0.021). By applying this diagnostic model, over 80% of chronic HBV patients with normal or slightly raised ALT will be correctly identified and hence avoid delay in diagnosis and treatment. In conclusion, GP73 would be an additional serum marker for predicting liver inflammation and fibrosis in chronic HBV patients with normal or slightly raised ALT.