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We aimed to compare the impact on survival among albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade, modified ALBI (mALBI) and our proposed combined ALBI grade and Mac-2 binding protein glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) or FIB4 index grading system in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) related compensated liver cirrhosis (n = 165, 93 men and 72 women, median age = 67 years). Patients with ALBI grade 1, 2, and 3 were allocated a score of 1, 2, and 3 points, respectively. Patients with mALBI grade 1, 2A, and 2B were allocated a score of 1, 2, and 3 points, respectively. Patients with a high or low M2BPGi were allocated a score of 1 and 0 point. Patients with a high or low FIB4 index were allocated a score of 1 and 0 point. Sum of the point of ALBI (1, 2, or 3) and M2BPGi (0 or 1) or FIB4 index (0 or 1) was defined as ALBI-M2BPGi grade or ALBI-FIB4 grade. Prognostic accuracy was compared using the Akaike information criterion (AIC) value and time dependent receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis. The median follow-up duration was 5.422 years. AIC value for survival by ALBI-M2BPGi grade was the lowest among 4 prognostic models (AIC: 205.731 in ALBI grade, 200.913 in mALBI grade, 189.816 in ALBI-M2BPGi grade, and 204.671 in ALBI-FIB4 grade). All area under the ROC curves of ALBI-M2BPGi grade in each time point were higher than those of ALBI grade, mALBI grade, and ALBI-FIB4 grade. In conclusion, our proposed ALBI-M2BPGi grading system seems to be helpful for estimating prognosis in patients with CHC related compensated LC.

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of nonprotein respiratory quotient (npRQ), as assessed using indirect calorimetry, on clinical outcomes in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC). A total of 244 LC patients were evaluated in this study. For the univariate analysis, for each continuous variable, the optimal cutoff value that maximized the sum of sensitivity and specificity was selected using receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis for survival. There were 137 men and 107 women with the median (range) age of 67 (25–90) years. Indirect calorimetry indicated that 54 patients (22.1%) had hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) on radiological findings and 59 patients (24.2%) had protein energy malnutrition, as defined by npRQ

Serum hyaluronic acid (HA) is a well-established marker of fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). However, the relationship between serum HA level and protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) in patients with CLD is an unknown. We aimed to examine the relationship between serum HA level and PEM in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) compared with the relationships of other serum markers of fibrosis. A total of 298 CHC subjects were analyzed. We defined patients with serum albumin level of ≤3.5 g/dL and nonprotein respiratory quotient

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease has been suggested to be associated with alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected patients with HBe antigen (HBeAg)-negativity and a low HBV-DNA level. However, few studies have evaluated the association according to histological findings of the liver. Among a total of 198 HBV-infected patients who received a percutaneous liver biopsy, we studied the histological and laboratory findings of HBeAg-negative patients without receiving nucleoside/nucleotide analogues treatment (N = 70) in order to evaluate whether hepatic steatosis and its related metabolic disorders were associated with an elevation in ALT levels in HBeAg-negative patients. In HBeAg-negative patients with a high serum HBV-DNA level (≥2000 IU/mL), the level of HBV-DNA was the only significant factor related to ALT elevation. However, in HBeAg-negative patients with a low HBV-DNA level, the serum ferritin level, and histologically observed hepatic steatosis were significantly associated factors with ALT elevation. When we evaluated 2 metabolic variables (serum ferritin and fasting insulin) that are suggested to be relevant to the presence of progressive disease in Japanese patients, we found that the rate of metabolic disorders was significantly higher among patients with a high ALT level and a low HBV-DNA level than it was among those with other conditions. The triglyceride level and the frequency of moderate or severe hepatic steatosis were significantly higher in patients with a low HBV-DNA level than in those with a high HBV-DNA level. Histologically proven hepatic steatosis and its related metabolic disorders are suggested to be involved in the elevation of aminotransferases of HBeAg-negative patients, particularly those with low HBV-DNA levels.

The aims of the present study were to examine the relationship between serum B-cell activating factor belonging to the tumor necrosis factor family (BAFF) levels and serum interferon-γ-inducible protein-10 (IP-10) levels in patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). A total of 80 corticosteroid therapy naive AIH patients were analyzed in this analysis. First, we examined the relationship between pretreatment serum BAFF and IP-10 levels and liver histological findings. Next, we investigated the relationship of pretreatment serum BAFF and IP-10 levels and aspartate aminotransferase value (AST), alanine aminotransferase value, and serum Immunoglobulin G (IgG) level as serum liver inflammation markers. Our study included 14 men and 66 women with the median (range) age of 64 (21–83) years. The serum BAFF levels ranged from 122.5 to 7696.0 pg/mL (median value, 1417.8 pg/mL), whereas the serum IP-10 levels ranged from 142.0 to 4198.7 pg/mL (median value, 640.1 pg/mL). The serum BAFF levels were significantly stratified in each 2 liver inflammation stage. Similarly, the serum IP-10 levels were significantly stratified in each 2 liver inflammation stage. Among 3 serum inflammation markers, AST value had the highest rs value in terms of the relationship with BAFF level (rs = 0.511, P