engleski

Hepatocyte growth factor in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a most potent mitogen for hepatocytes and could be activated by several steps after liver injury. There are still many questions about mechanisms of liver regeneration in liver cirrhosis caused by alcohol damage. The aim of this study was to determine whether the hepatocyte growth factor levels correlate with the grade of alcoholic liver cirrhosis and whether it could be used in the classification of illness. In this study the hepatocyte growth factor levels were measured by ELISA method in 33 alcoholic cirrhosis patients and 42 healthy volunteers. The patients were subdivided in two subgroups according to the grade of the disease (by Child-Pugh-Turcot classification). The HGF levels were significantly higher in cirrhotics than in healthy volunteers (0.78*0.38 vs. 0.2*0.06 ng/ml, p<0.001). In Child B subgroup the mean HGF levels were significantly higher than in Child A (0.98*0.38 vs. 0.52 *0.13 ng/ml, p<0.001). There was found a significant correlation between HGF and other liver function tests. The ROC analysis of areas showed HGF to have convincingly better diagnostic accuracy than any other standard liver function test (AHGF=1.0, AAST= 0.91, AALT=0.87 AgGT=0.93), so the measurement of HGF levels could be useful in discriminating alcoholic cirrhosis patients from healthy subjects, as well as in classifying patients according to the grade of the disease.

hepatocyte growth factor; HGF; hepatocytes; liver regeneration; liver cirrhosis; HGF levels; liver function tests; ROC analysis

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