Aim
To assess whether the measurement of serum basal paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity would be useful as an index of liver function status in chronic hepatitis patients. Materials and
Background
The diagnostic accuracy of currently available standard panel of liver function tests is not satisfactory for the reliable diagnosis of chronic liver disorders. Earlier studies have reported that serum basal paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity measurement may add a significant contribution to the liver function tests.
Conclusion
Diagnostic accuracy of serum PON1 activity is better than total bilirubin, total protein, albumin and ALP. PON1 activity measurement could significantly improve the current efficiency of a laboratory's evaluation of patients with suspected chronic hepatitis.
Methods
The study included 50 chronic hepatitis patients and 50 apparently healthy controls based on inclusion & exclusion criteria. In all the subjects, standard liver function tests were analysed by using standard methods. Basal PON1 activity was estimated using spectrophotometric method by the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenylacetate. Student t-test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, diagnostic validity tests and ROC curve analysis were the methods used for the statistical analysis of the data.
Results
The serum basal PON1 activity was significantly decreased in chronic hepatitis cases when compared to controls (p< 0.001). Also basal PON1 activity was positively correlated with serum total protein and albumin, and negatively correlated with serum total bilirubin, alanine amino transferase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (p< 0.001) in chronic hepatitis cases but not in healthy controls. Diagnostic validity tests showed, basal PON1 activity was a better discriminator of chronic hepatitis than total protein, albumin and ALP with sensitivity of 68%, specificity of 100%, positive predictive value of 100% and negative predictive value of 75%. ROC curve analysis demonstrated highest diagnostic accuracy for ALT (AUC = 0.999) followed by PON1 (AUC = 0.990), total bilirubin (AUC = 0.977), ALP (AUC = 0.904), total protein (AUC = 0.790) and albumin (AUC = 0.595).