Clinical Significance of Serum and Urine β_2 -Microglobin Detection in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis

Objective To explore the relationship between the changing features of serum / urine β 2-microglobin (β 2-MG) and liver function in patients with liver cirrhosis(LC).Grouping of 143 cirrhotic patients was undertaken by two routes: ①Divided into 2 groups, posthepatitic cirrhosis and alcoholic cirrhosis;②Divided into 3 groups according to Child-Pugh score standard. Serum and urine β 2-MG levels in 143 LC patients and 126 healthy subjects were detected by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and compared .Serum β 2-MG levels in cirrhotic patients were significantly higher than those in normal controls(P0.01) and were correlated with the degree of liver function impairment. Serum β 2-MG levels in patients with posthepatitic cirrhosis were obviously higher than those with alcoholic cirrhosis (P0.05). Urine β 2-MG levels in LC patients were distinctly increased as compared to those in normal controls(P0.01), correlating with the degree of liver function impairment ; but remarkable difference in urine β 2-MG levels was not found between posthepatitic cirrhosis and alcoholic cirrhosis groups(P0.05).[Conclusion]Detection of serum and urine β 2-MG levels is helpful to the diagnosis of LC and can reflect indirectly the extent of severity in liver disease.