Low-Cost Point-of-Care Monitoring of ALT and AST Is Promising for Faster Decision Making and Diagnosis of Acute Liver Injury

Abstract

Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) are important liver enzymes in clinical settings. Their levels are known to be elevated in individuals with underlying liver diseases and those consuming hepatotoxic drugs. Serum ALT and AST levels are crucial for diagnosing and assessing liver diseases. Serum ALT is considered the most reliable and specific candidate as a disease biomarker for liver diseases. ALT and AST levels are routinely analyzed in high-risk individuals for the bioanalysis of both liver function and complications associated with drug-induced liver injury. Typically, ALT and AST require blood sampling, serum separation, and testing. Traditional methods require expensive or sophisticated equipment and trained specialists, which is often time-consuming. Therefore, developing countries have limited or no access to these methods. To address the above issues, we hypothesize that low-cost biosensing methods (paper-based assays) can be applied to the analysis of ALT and AST levels in biological fluids. The paper-based biodetection technique can semi-quantitatively measure ALT and AST from capillary finger sticks, and it will pave the way for the development of an inexpensive and rapid alternative method for the early detection and diagnosis of liver diseases. This method is expected to significantly reduce the economic burden and aid routine clinical analysis in both developed and underdeveloped countries. The development of low-cost testing platforms and their diagnostic utility will be extremely beneficial in helping millions of patients with liver disorders.

Risk Factor Analysis and Nomogram for Predicting In-Hospital Mortality in ICU Patients with Heat Stroke: A National Multicenter Study

“…[40][41][42][43][44] ALI is characterized by an early increase in serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase, peaking after a few days, followed by a rise in bilirubin levels on the second or third day. [45][46][47][48] Our investigation revealed that AST (OR=1.002, 95% CI: 1.000-1.003, p=0.01) unequivocally constituted an independent risk factor. AST levels can serve as an objective indicator of liver function in patients with heat stroke.…”

Biosensing of Alpha-Fetoprotein: A Key Direction toward the Early Detection and Management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…Ideal biosensors are affordable, sensitive, specific, user-friendly, rapid, robust, require no added equipment, and are deliverable to the user [31]. The application of biosensors in the biomedical and bioanalytical fields, especially for biomarker detection and early diagnosis, has increased dramatically over the past decade [32][33][34][35]. Researchers have focused mainly on enhancing the limit of detection (LOD), time-dependent sensitivity, and selectivity of the target analyte.…”

Bioengineered Organoids Offer New Possibilities for Liver Cancer Studies: A Review of Key Milestones and Challenges

“…Historically, finding effective treatments for patients with liver cancers, particularly hepatobiliary cancers, has been challenging due to the lack of appropriate research models. Hence, accurate estimation of the pathophysiology and treatment of hepatic cancer by subtype requires the development of new therapeutic and diagnostic substitutes to address the existing challenges in hepatology research [7][8][9][10].…”