Clinical implications of serum Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2-binding protein in treatment-naive chronic hepatitis B

AimTo examine the relationship between serum Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2-binding protein (WFA(+)-M2BP) levels and liver histological findings for patients with treatment naive chronic hepatitis B (CHB). MethodsA total of 189 treatment naive-CHB patients were analyzed. We examined the effect of pretreatment serum WFA(+)-M2BP levels on histological findings compared with other laboratory markers, including aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to platelet ratio index, Fibrosis-4 index, platelet count, AST to alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratio, and hyaluronic acid as liver fibrosis markers, and AST value, ALT value, and serum interferon--inducible protein-10 level as liver inflammation markers. ResultsThe WFA(+)-M2BP value ranged from 0.3 cut-off index (COI) to 12.9 COI (median value, 1.2 COI). The degree of liver fibrosis was significantly stratified according to WFA(+)-M2BP level in each group except for groups F2 and F3 and the degree of liver inflammation activity was significantly stratified according to WFA(+)-M2BP level in each group. For predicting F4, WFA(+)-M2BP level yielded the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) with a level of 0.87 and for predicting advanced liver fibrosis (F3) and significant liver fibrosis (F2), WFA(+)-M2BP level yielded the second highest AUROCs (both, 0.77) among six fibrotic markers. For predicting severe (A3) or significant liver inflammation activity (A2), AUROCs of WFA(+)-M2BP level were 0.78 and 0.76. ConclusionThe WFA(+)-M2BP level can be a useful marker for assessing liver histological findings in patients with treatment-naive CHB, although it has several limitations.