Twelve potential fibrosis markers to differentiate mild liver fibrosis from cirrhosis in patients infected with chronic hepatitis C genotype 1

Information about the stage of liver fibrosis is important for managing patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). The aim of this study was to evaluate 12 plasma markers for differentiating no/mild liver fibrosis from cirrhosis among patients with CHC genotype 1. Transient elastography was used to assess the stage of fibrosis for the patients included in the study. Forty patients were included (21 cirrhotic). Plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin 8 (IL-8), interferon-gamma inducible protein-10 (IP-10), monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator (suPAR), monokine induced by gamma-interferon (MIG), human hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), insulin, interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 1-beta (IL-1 beta), leptin, and nerve growth factor (NGF) were analyzed. Concentrations of TNF-alpha (median 15.0 vs. 25.1 pg/ml, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] 0.91), IL-8 (48.7 vs. 103.3 pg/ml, AUC 0.85), IP-10 (176 vs. 566 pg/ml, AUC 0.83), MCP-1 (449 vs. 735 pg/ml, AUC 0.78), suPAR (3.5 vs. 5.2 ng/ml, AUC 0.78), MIG (100 vs. 152 pg/ml, AUC 0.75), and HGF (3.69 vs. 5.58 ng/ml, AUC 0.71) were significantly higher in patients with cirrhosis. In conclusion, several of the investigated markers showed promise for differentiating cirrhosis from no/mild fibrosis among patients with CHC genotype 1.