ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Accurate evaluation of liver fibrosis is crucial for predicting progression of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. We assessed the utility of a novel fibrosis glycobiomarker Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2-binding protein (WFA+ -M2BP) for evaluating liver fibrosis and disease progression in patients with chronic HBV infection. METHODS: We enrolled 774 patients with chronic HBV infection, with or without fibrosis, diagnosed by liver biopsy/FibroScan. Patients who underwent liver biopsy (n = 297) were divided into training (n = 221) and validation (n = 76) groups. Serum WFA+ -M2BP values were measured and compared with FIB-4 index, aspartate aminotransferase (AST)-to-platelet ratio (APRI) and AST-to-alanine aminotransferase ratio (AAR) using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. RESULTS: Serum WFA+ -M2BP levels increased significantly with fibrosis progression (P < 0.0001). Area under the ROC curve of WFA+ -M2BP for diagnosing significant fibrosis was higher than that of FIB-4 (P = 0.198), APRI (P = 0.017) and AAR (P < 0.001), with sensitivity and specificity in the training set of 60.5% and 79.8% and validation set of 59.5% and 82.1%, respectively. Serum WFA+ -M2BP levels were significantly correlated with FibroScan values (P < 0.0001) and improved the accuracy of FibroScan in assessing significant fibrosis. Changes in WFA+ -M2BP levels were parallel with those in FibroScan values during nucleot(s)ide analogues therapy in patients with chronic HBV infection. CONCLUSIONS: WFA+ -M2BP is an accurate serum indicator for assessing early stages of liver fibrosis and may monitor regression of fibrosis during the treatment of chronic HBV infection. WFA+ -M2BP provides a simple and reliable alternative or complementary method to liver biopsy and FibroScan.
Subject(s)
Antigens, Neoplasm/blood , Hepatitis B, Chronic/blood , Hepatitis B, Chronic/complications , Liver Cirrhosis/blood , Membrane Glycoproteins/blood , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Biomarkers/blood , China , Disease Progression , Elasticity Imaging Techniques , Female , Humans , Linear Models , Liver/pathology , Liver Cirrhosis/pathology , Male , Middle Aged , Plant Lectins , ROC Curve , Receptors, N-Acetylglucosamine , Retrospective Studies , Young AdultABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of high birth weight (HBW) on blood pressure (BP) during childhood. METHODS: A total of 1435 couples with high or normal birth weight were selected from a birth cohort who were born between 1993 and 1995 in Wuxi, China and, followed between 2005 and 2007. A questionnaire survey was conducted, with their height, weight and blood pressure measured. RESULTS: The medians of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) of HBW group were 100 mm Hg (Q(1)-Q(3): 90 - 110 mm Hg), 64 mm Hg (Q(1)-Q(3): 60 - 70 mm Hg) in the high birth weight group, respectively, while they were 100 mm Hg (Q(1)-Q(3): 90 - 108 mm Hg), 62 mm Hg (Q(1)-Q(3): 60 - 70 mm Hg) in the normal weight group. No statistical significant difference was found between the exposed and unexposed groups. The proportion of elevated BP, including pre-hypertension and hypertension, in exposed group was 13.66%, a bit higher than that (11.57%) of the unexposed group (P = 0.055). The relative risk (RR) of HBW on elevated BP was 1.06 (0.92 - 1.21), after adjusted the following parameters as BMI in childhood, sex, age during the follow-up period, age of mother at delivery, gestational age, type of feeding at infancy, dietary habit as well as the frequencies of exercise during childhood. CONCLUSION: No statistically significant correlation was found between high birth weight and blood pressure of children.
