A functional variation in CHI3L1 is associated with severity of liver fibrosis and YKL-40 serum levels in chronic hepatitis C infection.

Background/aims: YKL-40 is a chitinase-like protein involved in matrix remodelling and a non-invasive fibrosis marker. We assessed whether a functional promoter polymorphism in CHI3L1, encoding YKL-40, is associated with HCV-induced liver fibrosis and influences YKL-40 serum concentrations.

Methods: The CHI3L1 -131G-->C promoter polymorphism was genotyped in two cohorts of HCV infected patients (n=440) by 5'-endonuclease assays.