TY - JOUR A1 - John, Katharina A1 - Franck, Martin A1 - Al Aoua, Sherin A1 - Rau, Monika A1 - Huber, Yvonne A1 - Schattenberg, Joern M. A1 - Geier, Andreas A1 - Bahr, Matthias J. A1 - Wedemeyer, Heiner A1 - Schulze-Osthoff, Klaus A1 - Bantel, Heike T1 - Non-invasive detection of fibrotic NASH in NAFLD patients with low or intermediate FIB-4 JF - Journal of Clinical Medicine N2 - Background: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and fibrosis are the main prognostic factors in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The FIB-4 score has been suggested as an initial test for the exclusion of progressed fibrosis. However, increasing evidence suggests that also NASH patients with earlier fibrosis stages are at risk of disease progression, emphasizing the need for improved non-invasive risk stratification. Methods: We evaluated whether the apoptosis biomarker M30 can identify patients with fibrotic NASH despite low or intermediate FIB-4 values. Serum M30 levels were assessed by ELISA, and FIB-4 was calculated in an exploration (n = 103) and validation (n = 100) cohort of patients with histologically confirmed NAFLD. Results: The majority of patients with low FIB-4 (cut-off value < 1.3) in the exploration cohort revealed increased M30 levels (>200 U/L) and more than 80% of them had NASH, mostly with fibrosis. NASH was also detected in all patients with intermediate FIB-4 (1.3 to 2.67) and elevated M30, from which ~80% showed fibrosis. Importantly, in the absence of elevated M30, most patients with FIB-4 < 1.3 and NASH showed also no fibrosis. Similar results were obtained in the validation cohort. Conclusions: The combination of FIB-4 with M30 enables a more reliable identification of patients at risk for progressed NAFLD and might, therefore, improve patient stratification. KW - apoptosis KW - biomarker KW - fibrosis KW - FIB-4 KW - NAFLD KW - NASH KW - keratin-18 KW - M30 Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-281824 SN - 2077-0383 VL - 11 IS - 15 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Graf, Christiana A1 - Mondorf, Antonia A1 - Knop, Viola A1 - Peiffer, Kai-Henrik A1 - Dietz, Julia A1 - Friess, Julia A1 - Wedemeyer, Heiner A1 - Buggisch, Peter A1 - Mauss, Stefan A1 - Berg, Thomas A1 - Rausch, Michael A1 - Sprinzl, Martin A1 - Klinker, Hartwig A1 - Hinrichsen, Holger A1 - Bronowicki, Jean-Pierre A1 - Haag, Sebastian A1 - Hüppe, Dietrich A1 - Lutz, Thomas A1 - Poynard, Thierry A1 - Zeuzem, Stefan A1 - Friedrich-Rust, Mireen A1 - Sarrazin, Christoph A1 - Vermehren, Johannes T1 - Evaluation of point shear wave elastography using acoustic radiation force impulse imaging for longitudinal fibrosis assessment in patients with HBeAg-Negative HBV infection JF - Journal of Clinical Medicine N2 - Background: Accurate assessment of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic HBeAg-negative Hepatitis B is of crucial importance not only to predict the long-term clinical course, but also to evaluate antiviral therapy indication. The aim of this study was to prospectively assess the utility of point shear wave elastography (pSWE) for longitudinal non-invasive fibrosis assessment in a large cohort of untreated patients with chronic HBeAg-negative hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Methods: 407 consecutive patients with HBeAg-negative HBV infection who underwent pSWE, transient elastography (TE) as well as laboratory fibrosis markers, including fibrosis index based on four factors (FIB-4), aspartate to platelet ratio index (APRI) and FibroTest, on the same day were prospectively followed up for six years. Patients were classified into one of the three groups: inactive carriers (IC; HBV-DNA <2000 IU/mL and ALT <40 U/L); grey zone group 1 (GZ-1; HBV DNA <2000 IU/mL and ALT >40 U/L); grey zone group 2 (GZ-2; HBV-DNA >2000 IU/mL and ALT <40 U/L). Results: pSWE results were significantly correlated with TE (r = 0.29, p < 0.001) and APRI (r = 0.17; p = 0.005). Median pSWE values did not differ between IC, GZ-1 and GZ-2 patients (p = 0.82, p = 0.17, p = 0.34). During six years of follow-up, median pSWE and TE values did not differ significantly over time (TE: p = 0.27; pSWE: p = 0.05). Conclusion: Our data indicate that pSWE could be useful for non-invasive fibrosis assessment and follow-up in patients with HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection. KW - HBV KW - non-invasive fibrosis assessment KW - point shear wave elastography KW - acoustic radiation force impulse imaging KW - transient elastography KW - fibrotest KW - APRI KW - FIB-4 Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-193916 SN - 2077-0383 VL - 8 IS - 12 ER -