Non-Invasive Indirect Markers of Liver Fibrosis after Interferon-Free Treatment for Hepatitis C

Dagmara Przekop; Jakub Klapaczynski; Agnieszka Grytczuk; Ewa Gruszewska; Andrzej Gietka; Anatol Panasiuk; Slawomir Golaszewski; Bogdan Cylwik; Lech Chrostek

doi:10.3390/jcm10173951

Non-Invasive Indirect Markers of Liver Fibrosis after Interferon-Free Treatment for Hepatitis C

J Clin Med. 2021 Aug 31;10(17):3951. doi: 10.3390/jcm10173951.

Authors

Dagmara Przekop¹, Jakub Klapaczynski², Agnieszka Grytczuk³, Ewa Gruszewska⁴, Andrzej Gietka², Anatol Panasiuk^{5

6}, Slawomir Golaszewski⁷, Bogdan Cylwik⁸, Lech Chrostek⁴

Affiliations

¹ Diagnostics-Experimental Center of Sexually Transmissible Diseases, 15-879 Bialystok, Poland.
² Department of Internal Diseases and Hepatology, Central Clinical Hospital of Ministry of Home Affairs and Administration, 02-507 Warszawa, Poland.
³ Department of Laboratory Diagnostics, University Clinical Hospital in Bialystok, 15-540 Bialystok, Poland.
⁴ Department of Biochemical Diagnostics, Medical University of Bialystok, 15-269 Bialystok, Poland.
⁵ Department of Internal Diseases and Gastroenterology, Provincial Welded Hospital in Bialystok, 15-950 Bialystok, Poland.
⁶ Department of Clinical Medicine, Medical University of Bialystok, 15-254 Bialystok, Poland.
⁷ Department of General, Minimally Invasive and Oncological Surgery, Provincial Welded Hospital in Bialystok, 15-950 Bialystok, Poland.
⁸ Department of Pediatric Laboratory Diagnostics, Medical University of Bialystok, 15-274 Bialystok, Poland.

Abstract

The effectiveness of interferon-free therapy during the course of HCV infection has already been confirmed. Liver fibrosis can be assessed in several ways, from biopsies to imaging tests. The present study evaluates the usefulness of non-invasive indirect biomarkers of liver fibrosis (APRI, GAPRI, FORNS, FIB-4, the AP index and HUI score) as markers of the effective treatment of HCV with the 3D regimen. Blood samples were collected from 70 patients suffering from chronic hepatitis C. Patients received the 3D AbbVie regimen for hepatitis C. All patients had HCV genotype 1b. The APRI, GAPRI, FIB-4, FORNS, HUI and AP index (age-platelet score) values were calculated with their respective algorithms. The stage of fibrosis was evaluated on the basis of a liver biopsy and confirmed by FibroScan-based transient elastography. An undetectable level of HCV RNA after 12 weeks of treatment with the 3D regimen indicates 100% eradication of hepatitis C virus. After the treatment, non-invasive indirect markers of liver fibrosis achieved levels below the limit for significant fibrosis, Thus, non-invasive indirect biomarkers of hepatic fibrosis failed to detect the presence of significant fibrosis, which was proved in histopathological examination. However, the eradication of hepatitis C virus by means of the 3D regimen treatment does not mean that patients were completely cured.

Keywords: 3D regimen; HCV eradication; hepatitis C; non-invasive fibrosis markers.