Circulating Endotrophin as a Biomarker of Fibrosis in Chronic Liver Diseases

Abstract

Background:Liver fibrosis is a common consequence of most chronic inflammatory liver diseases and results in cirrhosis if left untreated. Therefore, it is important to detect early stages of fibrosis. Endotrophin, the cleavage product of collagen VI, plays a role in renal, cardiac, and hepatic fibrosis. In animal studies, expression of endotrophin results in hepatic inflammation and fibrosis.Aim:We investigated the association between serum endotrophin levels and severity of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), autoimmune liver diseases (ALD), and metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).Methods:Blood samples were obtained from treatment-naive patients. Liver fibrosis was evaluated using the modified Knodell scoring system.Results:We included 85 patients (28 with CHB, 32 with ALD and 25 with MASLD). In the combined group endotrophin levels were significantly higher in patients with advanced fibrosis compared to mild fibrosis (P=0.006). However, in the CHB group endotrophin levels were significantly lower compared to the other groups (P<0.001). Further, there was no difference between mild and advanced fibrosis in the individual groups.Conclusions:Our preliminary data showed that endotrophin might be a clinically relevant biomarker for the assessment of liver fibrosis. However, etiology-specific larger-scale clinical studies are needed to determine the true utility of endotrophin as a biomarker in different chronic liver diseases.