Fibrosis without biopsy
A group of researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and Glycopath Corporation (South Carolina) has developed a new test for detecting liver fibrosis GlycoFibroTyper, which can eliminate the need for a biopsy.
Fibrosis is a scarring process that occurs in the liver due to genetic disorders, metabolic diseases or exposure to environmental toxins, including alcohol. In the initial stage, liver fibrosis is reversible, but it can progress to cirrhosis of the liver, which is not treatable. Therefore, it is very important that doctors detect liver damage in patients at the initial stage.
Currently, the gold standard for the diagnosis of fibrosis is a liver biopsy. During this procedure, a hollow needle is inserted into the patient's liver to collect a sample. Biopsy is extremely informative, but it is also very invasive, and researchers are working on ways to diagnose liver fibrosis and dynamically monitor the course of this disease that do not require a biopsy.
Previous studies have shown that as liver fibrosis progresses, the profile of the carbohydrate component (N-glycans) changes in IgG antibodies that circulate in the blood and are glycosylated protein in structure. The new GlycoFibroTyper test is based on profiling N-glycans in IgG, it requires only a few microliters of blood.
The researchers evaluated glycosylation of total IgG, as well as IgG1, IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4 using the GlycoFibroTyper test. According to the results of liver biopsy, the study participants were divided into three groups: 41 people without liver disease, 28 people with early-stage fibrosis and 43 people with late-stage fibrosis. The results of the GlycoFibroTyper test were compared with the biopsy data.
In the healthy group, the sensitivity of the test was 92% and specificity 90%, in the group of early fibrosis – sensitivity 84% and specificity 90%, in the group of severe fibrosis – 94% and 90%, respectively.
Existing blood tests diagnose fibrosis with much lower accuracy (30-50%).
The creators plan to make the GlycoFibroTyper test available to clinical and commercial laboratories everywhere.
Article by D.A.Scott et al. GlycoFibroTyper: A Novel Method for the Glycan Analysis of IgG and the Development of a Biomarker Signature of Liver Fibrosis is published in the journal Fronteirs in Immunology.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the Medical University of South Carolina: Biomarkers over biopsies: A highly accurate and minimally invasive test for liver fibrosis.