Hepatocyte apoptosis fragment product cytokeratin-18 M30 level and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis risk diagnosis: An international registry study

Background:Liver biopsy for the diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is limited by its inherent invasiveness and possible sampling errors. Some studies have shown that cytokeratin-18 (CK-18) concentrations may be useful in diagnosing NASH, but results across studies have been inconsiste...

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Main Authors: Zhang, Huai, Rios, Rafael S., Boursier, Jerome, Anty, Rodolphe, Chan, Wah-Kheong, George, Jacob, Yilmaz, Yusuf, Wong, Vincent Wai-Sun, Fan, Jiangao, Dufour, Jean-Francois, Papatheodoridis, George, Chen, Li, Schattenberg, Joern M., Shi, Junping, Xu, Liang, Wong, Grace Lai-Hung, Lange, Naomi F., Papatheodoridi, Margarita, Mi, Yuqiang, Zhou, Yujie, Byrne, Christopher D., Targher, Giovanni, Feng, Gong, Zheng, Minghua
Format: Article
Published: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2023
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Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/38646/
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Summary:Background:Liver biopsy for the diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is limited by its inherent invasiveness and possible sampling errors. Some studies have shown that cytokeratin-18 (CK-18) concentrations may be useful in diagnosing NASH, but results across studies have been inconsistent. We aimed to identify the utility of CK-18 M30 concentrations as an alternative to liver biopsy for non-invasive identification of NASH.Methods:Individual data were collected from 14 registry centers on patients with biopsy-proven non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and in all patients, circulating CK-18 M30 levels were measured. Individuals with a NAFLD activity score (NAS) >= 5 with a score of >= 1 for each of steatosis, ballooning, and lobular inflammation were diagnosed as having definite NASH; individuals with a NAS <= 2 and no fibrosis were diagnosed as having non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL).Results:A total of 2571 participants were screened, and 1008 (153 with NAFL and 855 with NASH) were finally enrolled. Median CK-18 M30 levels were higher in patients with NASH than in those with NAFL (mean difference 177 U/L; standardized mean difference SMD]: 0.87 0.69-1.04]). There was an interaction between CK-18 M30 levels and serum alanine aminotransferase, body mass index (BMI), and hypertension (P < 0.001, P = 0.026 and P = 0.049, respectively). CK-18 M30 levels were positively associated with histological NAS in most centers. The area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) for NASH was 0.750 (95% confidence intervals: 0.714-0.787), and CK-18 M30 at Youden's index maximum was 275.7 U/L. Both sensitivity (55% 52%-59%]) and positive predictive value (59%) were not ideal.Conclusion:This large multicenter registry study shows that CK-18 M30 measurement in isolation is of limited value for non-invasively diagnosing NASH.