Zhao L, Li T, Wang Y, Pan Y, Ning H, Hui X, Xie H, Wang J, Han Y, Liu Z, Fan D
State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology & Institute of Gastroenterology, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Beijing, China.
Int J Clin Pract. 2008 Jul;62(7):1056-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-1241.2007.01368.x. Epub 2007 May 30.
Osteopontin (OPN) was shown to play an important role in the pathogenesis of various inflammatory and fibrotic processes and elevated in fibrotic liver of mouse model. However, the significance of OPN in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-induced liver cirrhosis (LC) remains unclear and is therefore evaluated in this study.
Thirty-nine patients with HBV-induced LC, 30 patients with HBV infection but without cirrhosis, 11 patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 14 additional healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Plasma levels of OPN were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the relationship between OPN and clinical parameters was evaluated.
When compared to HBV infection group (median 2.16 ng/ml), plasma levels of OPN were significantly increased in cirrhosis (4.52 ng/ml, p < 0.001) and cancer group (13.38 ng/ml, p < 0.001). The OPN level was correlated with the severity of liver damage according to Child-Pugh classification (p = 0.003). It showed at least comparable sensitivity and specificity to predict cirrhosis as aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index, a previously established non-invasive serum marker of cirrhosis.
These data suggest that OPN could be used to evaluate the existence of LC, as OPN has previously been reported to be increased in the HCC; this unique feature makes OPN a promising candidate for prediction biomarker in the long-time surveillance of patients with HBV infection to evaluate the risk of cirrhosis and cancer.
骨桥蛋白（OPN）在各种炎症和纤维化过程的发病机制中发挥重要作用，在小鼠模型的纤维化肝脏中水平升高。然而，OPN在乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）诱导的肝硬化（LC）中的意义仍不清楚，因此本研究对其进行评估。
本研究纳入了39例HBV诱导的LC患者、30例HBV感染但无肝硬化患者、11例HBV相关肝细胞癌（HCC）患者以及14名健康对照者。采用酶联免疫吸附测定法检测血浆OPN水平，并评估OPN与临床参数之间的关系。
与HBV感染组（中位数2.16 ng/ml）相比，肝硬化组（4.52 ng/ml，p < 0.001）和癌症组（13.38 ng/ml，p < 0.001）的血浆OPN水平显著升高。根据Child-Pugh分类，OPN水平与肝损伤严重程度相关（p = 0.003）。它在预测肝硬化方面显示出至少与天冬氨酸转氨酶与血小板比值指数相当的敏感性和特异性，天冬氨酸转氨酶与血小板比值指数是先前建立的肝硬化非侵入性血清标志物。
这些数据表明，OPN可用于评估LC的存在，因为先前报道OPN在HCC中升高；这一独特特征使OPN成为在长期监测HBV感染患者以评估肝硬化和癌症风险时预测生物标志物的有希望的候选者。
