KAT8: A Promising Biomarker for the Prognosis of Hepatitis B Virus-Related Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Patients with hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) have a high short-term mortality. This study aims to explore the predictive value of KAT8 in ACLF.

METHODS

In this study, a carbon tetrachloride/lipopolysaccharide/D-galactosamine-induced ACLF mouse model was established. In parallel, PBMCs were collected from a prospective cohort comprising patients with HBV-ACLF, chronic hepatitis B (CHB), HBV-related liver cirrhosis (LC), and healthy individuals (HI) to investigate the association between KAT8 expression and ACLF.

RESULTS

In liver tissues from the ACLF animal model, the expression of KAT8 was significantly decreased. Meanwhile, in human PBMCs, KAT8 expression levels were significantly lower in the HBV-ACLF group than in HI, but higher than those in patients with CHB and HBV-related LC. Furthermore, survivors exhibited significantly higher KAT8 levels than non-survivors (all p < 0.001). KAT8 shows potential prognostic value for 28-day and 90-day mortality in HBV-ACLF, with AUROC values of 0.90 and 0.97, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

KAT8 may serve as a valuable biomarker for the prognosis prediction of patients with HBV-ACLF.