Serum apoptotic caspase activity as a marker of severity in HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B virus infection

Abstract

Serum apoptotic caspase activity is strongly associated with the presence of liver injury in patients with HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection. CK-18 fragment levels seem to be a very useful marker for differentiation between the inactive HBV carrier state and HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B, but not for estimation of the severity of liver histological lesions among HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B patients.

Assessment of non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease using serum total cell death and apoptosis markers

“…While the cell death markers are elevated in NAFLD and particularly in NASH patients, it should be noted that they are nonspecific markers that may be elevated in other situations such as chronic hepatitis B and acute liver failure. 34,35 However, the diagnosis of NAFLD is usually clinically apparent by the time these cell death markers are applied in real-life practice. In addition, the diagnostic accuracy of these biomarkers for NASH remains modest.…”

“…The role of different cell death markers was also discussed in other liver diseases, such as HBV infection and acute liver failure. 34,35 .…”

Bak deficiency inhibits liver carcinogenesis: A causal link between apoptosis and carcinogenesis

“…Hepatocyte apoptosis shows correlation with inflammation and fibrosis in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis [4]. Cytokeratin 18 neoepitope, a well-established marker of caspase activity in serum, is elevated and associated with liver injury in chronic viral hepatitis and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis [5][6][7]. Although viral factors and overt organ inflammation linked to liver cancer development have been extensively studied [8,9], less information is available on the involvement of hepatocyte apoptosis in liver cancer development.…”

Toward unraveling the complexity of simple epithelial keratins in human disease

“…For example, it has been detected in the sera of patients infected with HCV, where it is a marker of fibrotic liver injury (47); used to predict who may respond to anti-HCV therapy (48); applied as a potential noninvasive correlate of the histological severity in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (49); and used as a potential marker for monitoring the state of liver injury associated with chronic infection with HBV (50). Furthermore, the presence of M30 reactivity in the serum may prove useful in distinguishing liver and intestinal graft-versus-host disease from unrelated conditions with similar symptoms (51).…”