Modelling hepatitis C infection and pathogenicity with the human immune system and liver (HIL) mouse model

nificant differences in grade and stage. RESULTS: Median value of WFA-M2BP for each fibrosis score was 1.10, 1.48, 1.33, 2.18 and 2.46 in F0, F1, F2, F3 and F4 for HBsAg positive cases and 0.94, 1.83, 2.53, 4.18 and 6.01 for HCV RNA positive cases (both p < 0.001). WFA-M2BP values of the same F scores were different between HBV and HCV cases (F0-F3: p < 0.01, F4: p = 0.053). For NAFLD cases, median value of WFAM2BP for each stage was 0.52, 0.89, 1.31, 1.63 and 3.23 (p < 0.001). Median value of WFA-M2BP for each grading score was 1.03, 1.91 and 2.00 in A1, A2 and A3 for HBsAg positive cases (p = 0.013) and 1.80, 2.90 and 5.14 for HCV RNA positive cases (p < 0.01). The cutoff values and the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) for diagnosing cirrhosis (F4) were 1.72 and 0.768 for HBV cases, 4.48 and 0.819 for HCV cases, 1.83 and 0.931 for NAFLD cases. Those values for diagnosing severe fibrosis (F3 and F4) were 2.39 and 0.772 for HBV cases, 4.61 and 0.822 for HCV cases, 1.81 and 0.891 for NAFLD cases. When the cutoff value of WFAM2BP was set to 2.0, positive predictive value (PPV) for estimating severe fibrosis (F3 and F4) was 71.1% (27/38) for HBV cases. In case of HCV, PPV was 71.1% (86/121) when the cutoff value was 4.0, and 84.6% of PPV for NAFLD cases with the cutoff value of 1.5. CONCLUSIONS: Measurements of serum WFA-M2BP showed clinical usefulness for assessing liver fibrosis and partly inflammation. The mean values or cutoff levels of WFA-M2BP were different at the same fibrosis stage by diseases and pathogenesis. Therefore, this novel glycomarker reflects liver fibrosis in disease-specific manner.