Serial measurement of Wisteria floribunda agglutinin positive Mac-2-binding protein is useful for predicting liver fibrosis and the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis C patients treated with IFN-based and IFN-free therapy

Aim

Wisteria floribunda agglutinin positive (WFA⁺) Mac-2-binding protein (M2BPGi) is a noninvasive glyco-marker for liver fibrosis. This study evaluated the utility of serial measurement of serum M2BPGi and total M2BP as a predictor of fibrosis and the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods

This study included 119 patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Of these patients, 97 were treated with IFN-based therapy and 22 were treated with daclatasvir and asunaprevir. Serum M2BPGi values were measured prior to, at the end of, and at 24 weeks after the completion of treatment. As subanalysis, serum total M2BP levels were measured in patients treated with pegylated-interferon and ribavirin.

Results

In patients treated with IFN-based therapy, M2BPGi levels were elevated at the end of treatment but decreased afterwards. In contrast, M2BPGi levels in patients treated with IFN-free therapy decreased immediately after starting the treatment without transient elevation. Though pre-treatment M2BPGi levels significantly correlated with fibrosis in both patients with a sustained virological response (SVR) and non-SVR, post-treatment M2BPGi levels decreased regardless of the degree of fibrosis in patients with SVR. In multivariate analysis, non-SVR and HCC development were independent factors associated with M2BPGi level ≥2.2. In patients treated with pegylated-interferon and ribavirin, total M2BP levels were positively correlated with fibrosis and HCC development.

Conclusion

Real-time monitoring of the serum M2BPGi level after antiviral therapy for CHC patients could be a helpful screening tool for assessing the risk of HCC. M2BP and its glycan structure could be associated together with hepatocarcinogenesis.