Significance of detections of serum levels of HPCIII, CIV, HA and LN in patients with liver cirrhosis

AIM To study the clinical significance of detections of serum concentrations of human type Ⅲ procollagen, type Ⅳ collagen, hyaluronic acid and laminin in patients with liver cirrhosis. METHODS Of the patients with liver cirrhosis ( n =64, males, 40; females, 20; aged 45±23 years) 57 had hepatitis B cirrhosis, 4 alcoholic cirrhosis, 2 hepatitis C cirrhosis, 1 cardiovascular cirrhosis, 2 with GI tract bleeding, 36 ascites, 12 hepatic encephalopathy and 4 hepatorenal syndrome. According to Child′s classification 28 cases were in group A, 23 in group B and 13 in group C. The levels of serum human type Ⅲ procollagen, type Ⅳ collagen, hyaluronic acid and laminin in fasting state were measured by using RIA and 40 healthy people ( n =40; 26 males, 14 females, aged 42±20 years) were tested as controls. RESULTS Serum concentrations of type Ⅲ procollagen, type Ⅳ collagen, hyaluronic acid and laminin (all in μg/L) in group A(323 4±101 2,298 6±98 3,564 6±152 3 and 226 4±45 6) were higher than in group B (216 2±64 3,121 5±62 6,287 6±172 5 and 186 9±27 7), group C (221 5±68 7,132 4±68 7,290 4±168 6 and 189 6±40 5) and healthy people (82 3±15 4, 52 7±17 2, 48 2±26 3 and 109 3±16 2) ( P 0 01) . There was no significant difference between groups B and C ( P 0 05) , but in groups B and C, they were obviously higher than those in the controls. CONCLUSION Detection of serum concentrations of human type Ⅲ procollagen type Ⅳ collagen, hyaluronic acid and laminin is helpful in the diagnosis of early cirrhosis and reflect the degree of liver cirrhosis.