Serum neopterin levels in children with hepatitis-B-related chronic liver disease and its relationship to disease severity

Abstract

AIM:To evaluate serum neopterin levels and their correlations with liver function tests and histological grade in children with hepatitis-B-related chronic liver disease. METHODS: The study population comprised 48 patients with chronic active hepatitis B, 32 patients with hepatitis-B-related active liver cirrhosis and 40 normal controls. Serum neopterin was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The mean ± SD serum neopterin levels were 14.2 ± 5.6 nmol/L in patients with chronic hepatitis, 20.3 ± 7.9 nmol/L in patients with liver cirrhosis and 5.2 ± 1.4 nmol/L in control group. Serum neopterin levels were significantly higher in patients with chronic hepatitis (P = 0.005) and cirrhosis patients (P = 0.008), than in control subjects. Cirrhotic patients had significantly higher serum neopterin levels than patients with chronic hepatitis (P = 0.004). There was a positive correlation between serum neopterin levels and alanine aminotransferase levels in patients with chronic hepatitis (r = 0.41, P = 0.004) and cirrhotic patients (r = 0.39, P = 0.005). Positive correlations were detected between serum neopterin levels and inflammatory score in patients with chronic hepatitis (r = 0.51, P = 0.003) and cirrhotic patients (r = 0.49, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION:Our results suggest that serum neopterin levels can be considered as a marker of inflammatory activity and severity of disease in children with hepatitis-B-related chronic liver disease.

Serum Neopterin Levels as a Diagnostic Marker of Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis Syndrome

“…It is known to be a marker of inflammation associated with cell-mediated immunity in various diseases (7,14,15,18,20). In our institution, we had observed that patients with a confirmed diagnosis of HLH had very high serum neopterin levels.…”

“…The control group included only JDM patients, which was the only patient group available that routinely had serum neopterin levels measured as an assessment of their disease activity. Elevated serum neopterin levels have been observed with posttraumatic complications among patients with multiple injuries, viral and bacterial infections, and malignancies (3,7,14,15,18,20), and no patients with these complications were included in our study. Therefore, a prospective study should be designed to include other patient populations.…”

Serum neopterin levels in patients with autism

“…It is known to be a marker of inflammation and associated with cell-mediated immunity in various diseases (Hoffmann et al, 2003) and neopterin changes in peripheral blood may have therapeutic and/or diagnostic value (Fuchs et al, 1993;Cesur, 2005). Significant increases in serum neopterin levels have been reported in many studies (Widner et al, 2002;Hoffmann et al, 2003;Sweeten et al, 2003;Coskun et al, 2005;Cesur, 2005;Pacileo et al, 2007;Gulcan et al, 2008;Celik et al, 2010;Sucher et al, 2010, Matz et al, 2012 (Table 1).…”

Increased serum levels of quinolinic acid indicate enhanced severity of hepatic dysfunction in patients with liver cirrhosis

“…Goris considered neopterin concentration along with other parameters as a tool for inflammation monitoring [16]. High serum levels of neopterin were observed in patients with cirrhosis and also in patients with chronic hepatitis (B and C) [17,18]. Increased serum neopterin levels over 19.15 nmol/l are associated with higher mortality rates in patients with alcoholic liver disease [19].…”