New test can predict death in patients with serious liver disease
Researchers have found that biomarker CD163 can predict mortality in blood samples from patients with acute on chronic liver failure
- Date:
- April 1, 2016
- Source:
- Aarhus University
- Summary:
- The biomarker CD163 can predict mortality in blood samples from patients with acute on chronic liver failure, report scientists. Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a sudden deterioration of the liver function in a patient with liver cirrhosis accompanied by failure of one or more organ systems. This liver disease has a serious prognosis and the four-week mortality rate is 20-30%.
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Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a sudden deterioration of the liver function in a patient with liver cirrhosis accompanied by failure of one or more organ systems. This liver disease has a serious prognosis and the four-week mortality rate is 20-30%.
This condition is often triggered by an infection, bleeding or other stressful events. Due to the severity of the disease it is important to develop a test to identify patients with the highest risk of developing this condition and thus the highest risk of a fatal outcome.
Macrophages are important cells of the immune system and widely represented in the liver and playing an active role in inflammation and formation of scar tissue in the liver. Researchers from Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University have studied how to measure activation of macrophages. When macrophages are activated they release the protein CD163, which together with the mannose receptor can be measured in a blood sample.
Together with a number of liver centres in Europe the Danish researchers have investigated a large group of patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure and demonstrated that CD 163 and the mannose receptor can predict death in this patient population.
This new knowledge can lead to improved diagnostics in patients with liver disease and possibly direct treatment towards macrophages via CD163 in the future, says Henning Grønbæk, professor and consultant at Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology at Aarhus University Hospital.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Aarhus University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- Henning Grønbæk, Sidsel Rødgaard-Hansen, Niels Kristian Aagaard, Vicente Arroyo, Søren K. Moestrup, Elisabet Garcia, Elsa Solà, Marco Domenicali, Salvatore Piano, Hendrik Vilstrup, Holger Jon Møller. Macrophage activation markers predict mortality in patients with liver cirrhosis without or with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). Journal of Hepatology, 2016; 64 (4): 813 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2015.11.021
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