Serum hyaluronic acid as a comprehensive marker to assess severity of liver disease in schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis mansoni is a non-cirrhotic fibrogenic disease model. The mild form shows normal liver function with slight or no liver fibrosis whereas in the periportal fibrosis form the manifestations of portal hypertension prevail over hepatocellular failure. We assessed serum hyaluronic acid as a marker of the course of the disease. We studied 24 patients presenting with pure chronic forms of schistosomiasis and seven with cirrhosis. In order to measure serum hyaluronic acid we developed a sandwich fluorescent ELISA-like assay. alpha(2)-Macroglobulin, prothrombin index, gamma-glutamyltransferase, platelets and ultrasound parameters were also assessed. The 20 mug/l (ROC plot) hyaluronic acid level differentiated patients with the mild form (with no portal hypertension) from those with the severe form of schistosomiasis with 78% diagnostic efficacy. The 80 mug/l cut-off value differentiated patients with the severe form of schistosomiasis from the cirrhotic group with similar diagnostic efficacy. alpha2-Macroglobulin provided no distinction between the groups studied. The hyaluronic acid serum concentration correlated positively with the splenic vein diameter (P = 0.004) and marginally with alpha2-macroglobulin (P = 0.059). Serum hyaluronic acid is a good marker for the initial phase of hepatic fibrosis and it was able to assess severity of liver disease in schistosomiasis. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.