Advances of Hepatic Fibrosis-Associated Serological Markers in the View of Translational Medicine

• Main Authors: Lin LIU, Jing ZHANG, Dong-hao XIE, Jian-wei CUI
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Third Party Medicine International Publishing Group Co. Limited 2016-03-01
• Series: Journal of International Translational Medicine
• Subjects: Hepatic fibrosis; Serological markers; Translational medicine; Hyaluronic acid; Laminin; Leptin; Autotoxin
• Online Access: http://www.jitm.hk/EN/abstract/abstract190.shtml#

Hepatic fibrosis is the dysplasia of intra-hepatic fiber. The pathological outcome of various acute and chronic hepatic diseases marked by excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (EMC), and is an inevitable process of chronic hepatitis developing into liver cirrhosis and HCC. Translational medicine is the ultimate target of medical research, the specific reflection of technological innovation on combined road of production, knowledge and research, and the inevitable tendency of basic medicine translated into applicable medicine. How to change the massive information discovered in omics era into applicable techniques in clinic is a challenge urgent to be resolved, and is also critical to further improve the therapeutic efficacy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The present hepatic fibrosis-associated serological markers include hyaluronic acid (HA), collagen, lominin (LN), matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs) and transforming growth factors (TGF) β l. Though they are all associated with hepatic fibrosis, they have their own disadvantages. Ideal serological markers for hepatic fibrosis should have higher specificity, sensitivity and accuracy to liver. In recent years, with new advances achieved in the research of body protein level, metabolic level and immune response level, and some new potential hepatic fibrosis-associated serological markers have been discovered, which are expected to improve the diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis. This study, in the view of translational medicine, mainly summarized the serological markers like HA and collagen, hoping to provide clinical references for the prevention and treatment of hepatic fibrosis and the prevention of HCC.