Clinical significance of serum 7S collagen and type VI collagen levels for the diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE

To measure serum 7S collagen (7S-C) and type VI collagen (VI-C) levels by radioimmunoassay (RIA) in Chinese patients with various liver disorders and in CCl4-treated SD rats, and to investigate the significance of the elevated levels of serum 7S-C and VI-C.

METHODS

Serum 7S-C and VI-C levels were measured in 40 healthy control subjects, 168 patients with various liver disorders and non-hepatic diseases, and 52 CCl4-treated SD rats by using RIA which was developed in our hospital.

RESULTS

Serum 7S-C and VI-C were significantly elevated in patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH), liver cirrhosis (LC), hepatic cellular carcinoma (HCC) (P < 0.01 respectively), chronic persistent hepatitis (CPH), and some with non-hepatic diseases (P < 0.05). Serum 7S-C, serum laminin and hyaluronic acid were well correlated. Serum 7S-C and VI-C were not closely correlated. Both collagens were correlated with serum albumin/globulin ratio, aminotransferase and total bilirubin, not with alkaline phosphatase. In CCl4-treated SD rats, serum 7S collagen and type VI collagen levels were correlated with the degree of hepatic fibrosis.

CONCLUSIONS

Serum 7S collagen and type VI collagen are useful markers for diagnosing liver fibrosis. And the combined measurement of IV-C, VI-C and other markers of connective tissue metabolism or biochemical data seems to provide additional information to predict progressive hepatic fibrosis.