Egypt has a high prevalence of HCV infection which causes hepatic fibrosis. Assessment of the degree of hepatic fibrosis is essential for decision of antiviral therapy. Untill now, liver biopsy is the gold standard for assessment of hepatic fibrosis but it is an invasive procedure. The aim of this study was to assess the utility of serum autotaxin (ATX) level as a marker of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C patients in comparison with liver biopsy.Sixty HCV patients with hepatic fibrosis confirmed with liver biopsy and20 healthy subjects were inrolled in the current study.Lab assessment included CBC, fasting serum glucose, liver and kidney function tests, serum AFP, hepatitis markers (HCVAb, HBsAg), PCR for HCV RNA and serum autotaxin (using sandwich ELISA).Results revealed that serum ATX levels were significantly increased in HCV group versus control group and were positively correlated with the stage of fibrosis. Serum autotaxin level at cutoff value (>115.8ng/ml) was the best parameter in detection of F0 with AUC (0.79), at a cutoff value (≥180.3 ng/ml) was the best parameter in detection of advanced fibrosis (≥ F3) with AUC (0.82) and at a cutoff value (≥189.2 ng/ml) was the best parameter in detection of F4 with AUC (0.85). It was concluded that serum autotaxin level is a valuable test for exclusion of fibrosis and detection of advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis but lacks discrimination of intermediate fibrosis stages.
Keywords: Hepatitis C, autotaxin, hepatic fibrosis.