Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2-binding protein as a diagnostic biomarker in liver cirrhosis: an updated meta-analysis

Gender-specific accuracy of lipid accumulation product index for the screening of metabolic syndrome in general adults: a meta-analysis and comparative analysis with other adiposity indicators

BACKGROUND

Lipid accumulation product (LAP) is a novel predictor index of central lipid accumulation associated with metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. This study aims to investigate the accuracy of LAP for the screening of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in general adult males and females and its comparison with other lipid-related indicators.

METHODS

A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and ProQuest for eligible studies up to May 8, 2024. Outcomes were pooled mean difference (MD), odds ratio (OR), and diagnostic accuracy parameters (sensitivity, specificity, and area under the summary receiver operating characteristic [AUSROC] curve). Comparative analysis was conducted using Z-test.

RESULTS

Forty-three studies involving 202,313 participants (98,164 males and 104,149 females) were included. Pooled MD analysis showed that LAP was 45.92 (P < 0.001) and 41.70 units (P < 0.001) higher in men and women with MetS, respectively. LAP was also significantly associated with MetS, with pooled ORs of 1.07 (P < 0.001) in men and 1.08 (P < 0.001) in women. In men, LAP could detect MetS with a pooled sensitivity of 85% (95% CI: 82%-87%), specificity of 81% (95% CI: 80%-83%), and AUSROC curve of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.85-0.90), while in women, LAP had a sensitivity of 83% (95% CI: 80%-86%), specificity of 80% (95% CI: 78%-82%), and AUSROC curve of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.85-0.91). LAP had a significantly higher AUSROC curve (P < 0.05) for detecting MetS compared to body mass index (BMI), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), body roundness index (BRI), a body shape index (ABSI), body adiposity index (BAI), conicity index (CI) in both genders, and waist circumference (WC) and abdominal volume index (AVI) in females.

CONCLUSION

LAP may serve as a simple, cost-effective, and more accurate screening tool for MetS in general adult male and female populations.

Evaluating M2BPGi as a Marker for Liver Fibrosis in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B

BACKGROUND

The accurate evaluation of liver fibrosis is crucial for the treatment and follow up of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients.

AIM

We examined the efficiency of serum Mac-2 Binding Protein Glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) in diagnosing liver fibrosis stages in CHB patients.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 177 adult CHB patients visiting the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam between October 2019 and December 2021. M2BPGi, ARFI, APRI, and FIB-4 were tested against FibroScan® for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV). The optimal M2BPGi cut-off values were identified based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve.

RESULTS

There was a strong agreement between M2BPGi and FibroScan® (r = 0.77, P < 0.001). The optimal M2BPGi cut-off index (C.O.I) for detecting significant fibrosis (F ≥ 2) was 0.79 with an AUROC of 0.77, 67.3% sensitivity, 70% specificity, 60.6% NPV, and 75.3% PPV. Compared with APRI (61%) and FIB-4 (47%), M2BPGi had the greatest sensitivity for diagnosing F ≥ 2. M2BPGi combined with APRI yielded highest diagnosis performance for F ≥ 2 with an AUROC of 0.87. The optimal cut-off index of M2BPGi for diagnosing cirrhosis (F4) was 1.3 with an AUROC of 0.91, 88% sensitivity, 87.4% specificity, 97% NPV, and 61% PPV. The AUROC of M2BPGi for diagnosing F4 was comparable to that of ARFI (0.93).

CONCLUSIONS

With cut-off values of 0.79 C.O.I and 1.3 C.O.I, M2BPGi could be an effective method for diagnosing significant fibrosis and cirrhosis in CHB patients, respectively.

Frontiers of Collaboration between Primary Care and Specialists in the Management of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease: A Review

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), formerly known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), is the most common liver disease. It has a rapidly growing patient population owing to the increasing prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Patients with MASLD are primarily treated by family physicians when fibrosis is absent or mild and by gastroenterologists/hepatologists when fibrosis is more advanced. It is imperative that a system for the appropriate treatment and surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma be established in order to ensure that highly fibrotic cases are not overlooked among the large number of MASLD patients. Family physicians should check for viral hepatitis, autoimmune hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, and drug-induced liver disease, and should evaluate fibrosis using NIT; gastroenterologists/hepatologists should perform liver biopsy, ultrasound elastography (260 units in Japan as of October 2023), and MR elastography (35 units in Japan as of October 2023). This review presents the latest findings in MASLD and the role, accuracy, and clinical use of NIT. It also describes the collaboration between Japanese primary care and gastroenterologists/hepatologists in Japan in the treatment of liver diseases, including MASLD.

Diagnostic accuracy of mac-2-binding protein glycosylation isomer for diagnosing hepatitis B-related fibrosis: A meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

Mac-2-binding protein glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) is a novel biomarker for liver fibrosis. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the accuracy of M2BPGi for predicting hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver fibrosis.

METHODS

EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, SinoMED, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals databases were searched comprehensively for articles published up to March 2022. Quality assessment was carried out in accordance with the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2). The pooled diagnostic estimates including sensitivity, specificity, the area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) were calculated. Before pooling the estimates, the threshold effect was assessed. Subgroup analysis was performed as well.

RESULTS

In all, 11 studies including 1836 patients were included. None of the 11 studies met all the criteria of QUADAS-2. The threshold effect was found (r = 0.757, P = 0.011) for predicting HBV-related severe fibrosis. The sensitivity, specificity and AUROC of M2BPGi for the prediction of significant fibrosis were 0.68 (0.65-0.71), 0.67 (0.64-0.70) and 0.741, respectively, while those for predicting cirrhosis were 0.65 (0.57-0.72), 0.79 (0.77-0.81) and 0.792. Additionally, the AUROC of M2BPGi for predicting severe fibrosis reached 0.766. No publication bias was observed. The results of subgroup analyses were similar to the overall results.

CONCLUSIONS

M2BPGi has moderate diagnostic accuracy for predicting HBV-related significant fibrosis, severe fibrosis, and cirrhosis. Further studies stratified by etiology, liver inflammation, treatment, etc, are urgently needed.

Serum Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2-binding protein expression predicts disease severity in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis patients

The role of Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2 binding protein (WFA⁺ -M2BP) in the prediction of disease severity in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains elusive. This study evaluated the performance of WFA⁺ -M2BP in predicting fibrosis in patients with NAFLD. A total of 80 patients with biopsy-proven nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) were enrolled. Serum WFA⁺ -M2BP levels were measured using standard methods. The fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index was also measured. The mean values of WFA⁺ -M2BP were 1.0, 1.0, 0.8, and 2.2 in Metavir fibrosis stage F0, F1, F2, and F3-4, respectively (linear trend p = 0.005). The optimal cut-off value of WFA⁺ -M2BP in predicting advanced fibrosis (F3-4) was 1.37 cut-off index (COI), yielding the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value, and accuracy of 75.0, 79.4, 39.1, 94.7, and 78.7%, respectively (p < 0.001). Combining WFA⁺ -M2BP with FIB-4 significantly increased the diagnostic performance for advanced fibrosis, yielding specificity, PPV, and accuracy of 100, 100, and 93%, respectively. The significant factors predicting advanced liver fibrosis in the multivariate regression analysis were WFA⁺ -M2BP ≥ 1.37 COI (OR/confidence interval [CI]: 9.49/1.63-55.21, p = 0.01) and FIB-4 ≥ 2.80 (OR/CI: 38.18/4.89-297.93, p = 0.001). Monitoring WFA⁺ -M2BP is suitable for noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis in NASH patients, particularly in combination with FIB-4.

Serum Biomarkers of Liver Fibrosis Staging in the Era of the Concept "Compensated Advanced Chronic Liver Disease"

Non-invasive indexes of liver fibrosis based on blood examinations have been developed for decades, partially replacing liver biopsy examinations. Recently, the concept of liver cirrhosis was revised and converted to “compensated advanced chronic liver diseases” since the Baveno VI consensus statement in 2015. The term “compensated advanced chronic liver diseases” was established based on the premise that serum biomarkers were not able to differentiate cirrhosis from severe fibrosis. The difficulty to histologically distinguish cirrhosis from severe fibrosis had been pointed out in 1977, when the definition and nomenclatures of cirrhosis had been determined by the World Health Organization. That was decades before serum biomarkers available at present were investigated. Though we are accustomed to differentiating the fibrosis stage as stage 1, 2, 3 (severe fibrosis), and 4 (cirrhosis), differentiation of cirrhosis from severe fibrosis is difficult even by histopathological examination. The current review will provide readers a framework to revise how to apply serum biomarkers on liver fibrosis staging in an era of the concept of “compensated advanced chronic liver disease”.

Impact of M2BPGi on the Hepatocarcinogenesis after the Combination Therapy with Daclatasvir and Asunaprevir for Hepatitis C

The clinical significance of mac-2 binding protein glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) levels based on virological responses due to antiviral therapy has not been fully evaluated. We compared the change before and 24 weeks after the therapy with daclatasvir and asunaprevir (DCV+ASV) of M2BPGi levels with those of other fibrosis markers in 73 chronic hepatitis C cases. Moreover, we examined the association between M2BPGi levels and hepatocarcinogenesis in sustained virological response (SVR) and non-SVR cases. M2BPGi levels were significantly improved at post-treatment week 24 (PTW24) in SVR but not non-SVR cases, whereas the changes of other fibrosis markers showed the same tendency in both SVR and non-SVR cases. M2BPGi levels were well correlated with other fibrosis markers at baseline but not PTW24. The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was significantly associated with M2BPGi levels at PTW24. The achievement of SVR significantly affected the improvement of M2BPGi levels that best reflected the effect of direct-acting antivirals among the fibrosis markers. Furthermore, M2BPGi levels at PTW24 were also associated with the incidence of HCC in only SVR cases. However, the rapid decrease of M2BPGi levels might reflect the amelioration of liver inflammation rather than the improvement of liver fibrosis, which should be further elucidated.