Serum ARCHITECT PIVKA-II reference interval in healthy Chinese adults: Sub-analysis from a prospective multicenter study

PIVKA‑II is associated with liver function, bone metabolism, and muscle function in patients with liver disease

Protein induced by vitamin K (VK) absence-II (PIVKA-II) is a sensitive marker for diagnosing hepatoma but is occasionally detected in patients without hepatoma Here, the clinical significance of serum PIVKA-II levels in patients who were not administered warfarin and did not have hepatoma or liver disease were evaluated. As VK is related to muscle and bone metabolism, PIVKA-II and clinical factors related to bone and muscle were compared. A total of 441 patients with various liver diseases were evaluated. Of these, 236 patients were female. Clinical factors and anthropometric measurements were obtained for each participant during outpatient visits. Among the clinical factors, type I procollagen N-propeptide (P1NP), a low titer of undercarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC), and 25(OH) vitamin D (VD) were used as bone metabolic markers, and SARC-F and grip strength were used as muscle-related markers. Serum PIVKA-II levels above the upper limit were associated with Child B/C (Child-Pugh score), high titers of total P1NP, and low titers of ucOC in females, and alcohol-related liver disease and low VD in males. The titer of PIVKA-II were associated with immunoglobulin (Ig) A and prothrombin time (PT)-international normalized ratio (INR) in females, and fibrosis-4-4, IgG, total bilirubin, PT-INR, and SARC-F in males. Elevated PIVKA-II levels were associated with abnormal bone physiology in females, weak muscles in males, and severe liver disease in both sexes. Assessing PIVKA-II may assist in evaluating the clinical and bone-muscle metabolic stages in liver disease. Nutrition and supplementation with fat-soluble vitamins, including VK and VD may thus serve as a potential method to alleviate or prevent bone-muscle pathophysiology in patients with liver disease.

Reference Range of Vitamin K Evaluating Indicators in Chinese Childbearing Women

BACKGROUND

Vitamin K is an essential fat-soluble vitamin for the human body and its functions, such as promoting blood coagulation, bone health and preventing atherosclerosis, have attracted increasing attention. However, there is no recognized indicator and corresponding reference range for evaluating vitamin K status of different populations at present. The aim of this study is to establish a reference range for vitamin K evaluating indicators in healthy women of childbearing age in China.

METHODS

The population sample in this study was from the Chinese Adult Chronic Disease and Nutrition Surveillance (CACDNS) 2015-2017. A total of 631 healthy women of childbearing age (18-49 years) were included using a series of strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. The concentrations of VK1, MK-4 and MK-7 in serum were detected by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The other commonly-reported indicators evaluating vitamin K nutritional status, including undercarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC), osteocalcin (OC), matrix Gla protein (MGP), desphosphorylated undercaboxylated MGP (dp-ucMGP) and protein induced by vitamin K absence II (PIVKA-II), were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The reference range was obtained by calculating the 2.5% to 97.5% interval of the vitamin K evaluating indicators in the reference population.

RESULTS

The reference ranges of VK1, MK-4 and MK-7 in serum were 0.21-3.07 ng/mL, 0.02-0.24 ng/mL and 0.12-3.54 ng/mL, respectively. The reference ranges of ucOC, %ucOC, dp-ucMGP and PIVKA-II were 1.09-2.51 ng/mL, 5.80-22.78%, 2.69-5.88 ng/mL and 3.98-8.40 ng/mL, respectively. The cut-off values that can be used to evaluate subclinical vitamin K deficiency were as follows: VK1 < 0.21 ng/mL, MK-7 < 0.12 ng/mL, ucOC > 2.51 ng/mL, %ucOC > 22.78%, dp-ucMGP > 5.88 ng/mL and PIVKA-II > 8.40 ng/mL.

CONCLUSION

The reference range of VK1, MK-4, MK-7 and vitamin K-related indicators for healthy women of childbearing age established in this study could be used to assess the nutritional and health status of this population.

Identification of the Best Cut-Off Value of PIVKA-II for the Surveillance of Patients at Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Development

Patients with cirrhosis are at risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development and, according to current guidelines, should undergo surveillance by ultrasound at six month intervals. Due to the known limitations of surveillance strategies based on ultrasonography, the use of tumor biomarkers, although debated, is common practice in many centers. The aim of the study was to identify the best cut-off value for one of such biomarkers, protein induced by vitamin K absence, or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II). We retrospectively enrolled 1187 patients with liver cirrhosis: 205 with a diagnosis of HCC (median age 67 years, 81.0% males) and 982 without tumor (median age 64 years, 56.2% males). During a median follow-up (FU) of 34.6 (11.4−43.7) months, 118 out of 982 (12.0%) patients developed HCC. Serum PIVKA-II was assessed by chemiluminescence immunoassay on the Lumipulse® G600 II platform (Fujirebio, Tokyo, Japan). In the overall cohort (n = 1187), PIVKA-II showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.802 for HCC detection. The best cut-off value that maximized sensitivity was 50 mAU/mL (sensitivity = 80%, specificity = 64%). In the 982 patients without HCC at baseline, PIVKA-II > 50 mAU/mL was associated with an increased risk of HCC development during the FU (HR = 1.74, 95% CI 1.21−2.51; p = 0.003)). In conclusion, the evaluation of serum PIVKA-II showed a good performance for HCC detection; a cut-off value > 50 mAU/mL could be suitable for the surveillance of patients who are at risk of developing HCC.

The potential of PIVKA-II as a treatment response biomarker in hepatocellular carcinoma: a prospective United Kingdom cohort study

Prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence II (PIVKA-II) has recently been validated internationally as a diagnostic biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as part of the GALAD model. However, its role as a treatment response biomarker has been less well explored. We, therefore, undertook a prospective study at a tertiary centre in the UK to evaluate the role of PIVKA-II as a treatment response biomarker in patients with early, intermediate and advanced stage HCC. In a cohort of 141 patients, we found that PIVKA-II levels tracked concordantly with treatment response in the majority of patients, across a range of different treatment modalities. We also found that rises in PIVKA-II levels almost always predated radiological progression. Among AFP non-secretors, PIVKA-II was found to be informative in 60% of cases. In a small cohort of patients undergoing liver transplantation, pre-transplant PIVKA-II levels predicted for microvascular invasion and poorer differentiation. Our results demonstrate the potential utility of PIVKA-II as a treatment response biomarker and in predicting microvascular invasion, in a Western population. PIVKA-II demonstrated improved performance over AFP but, as a single biomarker, its performance was still limited. Further larger prospective studies are recommended to evaluate PIVKA-II as a treatment response biomarker, within the GALAD model.

Vitamin K and cardiovascular complications in CKD patients

Vitamin K, well known for its role in coagulation, encompasses two major subgroups: Vitamin K1 is exclusively synthesized by plants, whereas vitamin K2 mostly originates from bacterial synthesis. Vitamin K serves as a cofactor for the enzyme γ-glutamyl carboxylase, which carboxylates and thereby activates various vitamin K dependent proteins. Several vitamin K-dependent proteins are synthesized in bone but the role of vitamin K for bone health in CKD patients, in particular the prevention of osteoporosis is still not firmly established. Here we focus on another prominent action of vitamin K, in particular vitamin K2, namely the activation of matrix Gla protein (MGP), the most potent inhibitor of cardiovascular calcifications. Multiple observational studies link relative vitamin K deficiency or low intake to cardiovascular calcification progress, morbidity and mortality. Patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) are particularly vitamin K deficient, in part because of dietary restrictions but possibly also due to impaired endogenous recycling of vitamin K. At the same time this population is characterized by markedly accelerated cardiovascular calcifications and mortality. High dose dietary supplementation with vitamin K2, in particular the most potent form menaquinone-7 (MK7), can potently reduce circulating levels of dephosphorylated uncarboxylated, i.e. inactive MGP in patients with end stage kidney disease. However, despite this compelling data basis, several randomized controlled trials with high dose MK7 supplements in patients with advanced CKD have failed to confirm cardiovascular benefits. Here we discuss potential reasons and solutions for this.

Evaluation of serum AFP and DCP levels in the diagnosis of early-stage HBV-related HCC under different backgrounds

OBJECTIVE

This study compared the diagnostic performance of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and des-gamma-carboxyprothrombin (DCP) in early-stage hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC) under different backgrounds.

METHODS

Patients were enrolled and divided in four groups: chronic HBV infection (CHB), liver cirrhosis (LC), early-stage CHB-HCC, and early-stage LC-HCC. Serum AFP and DCP levels were measured. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) analyses were applied to compare the diagnostic performance of DCP and AFP for HCC.

RESULTS

In total, 200 patients were enrolled, including 48, 64, 33, and 55 patients with CHB, LC, CHB-HCC, and LC-HCC, respectively. ROC curve analysis revealed that the AUCs of AFP, DCP, and their combination in differentiating early-stage LC-HCC from LC were 0.776, 0.758, and 0.786, respectively. The values of these markers in discriminating early-stage CHB-HCC from CHB were 0.828, 0.731, and 0.862, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

DCP was inferior to AFP in differentiating early-stage CHB-HCC from CHB. However, AFP and DCP displayed similar performance in distinguishing early-stage LC-HCC and LC.

Glucosamine-6-Phosphate Isomerase 1 Promotes Tumor Progression and Indicates Poor Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Purpose

Reprogramming of metabolic pathways is a hallmark of the pathological changes that occur in cancer cells. Under physiological conditions, glucosamine-6-phosphate isomerase 1 (GNPDA1) promotes the conversion of the hexosamine system to the glycolytic pathway and may, therefore, affect energy metabolism. Low expression of GNPDA1 has been reported in normal liver tissues, however, analysis of the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) database in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) revealed that GNPDA1 was highly expressed in HCC tissues. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of GNPDA1 in HCC.

Patients and Methods

We analyzed the expression of GNPDA1 in HCC tissues as well as the clinical outcomes of HCC patients with high or low expression of GNPDA1. Furthermore, the relationship between the expression of GNPDA1 and advanced tumor stage, TNM stage, grade, gender, or metastasis was assessed using high-throughput RNA sequencing data from TCGA HCC cohort and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. The expression of GNPDA1 in HCC and normal liver cell lines was subsequently detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Additionally, the effects of GNPDA1 knockdown in SMMC-7721 and Huh7 cell lines were examined. Cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis following knockdown were investigated by the MTT assay and EdU, cell cycle, apoptosis, transwell, and wound healing analyses.

Results

There was a significant association between high GNPDA1 expression and advanced tumor stage, TNM stage or grade, but not with gender. High GNPDA1 expression was associated with poor prognosis in patients with HCC. Furthermore, the MTT assay and EdU, cell cycle, apoptosis, wound healing, and transwell analyses revealed that GNPDA1 promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells and inhibited apoptosis.

Conclusion

The results of this study suggest that GNPDA1 may serve as a novel prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC.