Comparison of the diagnostic performance of magnetic resonance elastography and Wisteria foribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2-binding protein in the determination of advanced liver fibrosis stages in patients with chronic liver disease

The present study aimed to compare the accuracy of Wisteria FLoribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2-binding protein (WFA(+)-M2BP) and magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) in determining the liver fibrosis stage in patients with chronic liver disease. A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database was performed. The eligible patients had hepatic tumors and chronic liver disease, including hepatitis B (HBV) and HCV. All patients underwent blood sampling, MRE and hepatectomy at Changhua Christian Hospital (Changhua, Taiwan). Surgical specimens were used to determine definitive histopathological diagnoses and liver fibrosis stages. Measurement of liver stiffness was performed via MRI. The value of WFA(+)-M2BP in each patient was also assessed. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was measured to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the two examinations. The results indicated that the serum WFA(+)-M2BP levels were able to detect severe liver fibrosis (>= F3) in patients with chronic liver disease and performed as well as MRE in patients with HCV. Of the 238 patients enrolled in the present study, 135 had chronic HBV 75 had chronic HCV, 92 had early liver fibrosis (F1-F2) and 139 patients had advanced liver fibrosis (F3-F4). In predicting fibrosis stages >= F3, MRE had an AUC of 0.89 with a cutoff value of 3.76 and serum WFA(+)-M2BP had an AUC of 0.65 with a cutoff value of 1.32. MRE had higher AUCs than serum WFA(+)-M2BP for predicting the severity based on the fibrosis stage in the total cohort and the HBV subgroup. In patients with HCV, no significant differences in diagnostic performance were identified between MRE and serum WFA(+)-M2BP. In conclusion, determination of WFA(+)-M2BP as a biomarker for predicting severe liver fibrosis (>= F3) is a reliable and non-invasive method and performs as well as MRE in patients with chronic liver disease, particularly those with HCV.