Serum Mac-2 binding protein glycosylation isomer as a biomarker of fibrosis in living donor liver transplant graft.

Introduction: Non-invasive assessment of graft fibrosis is important in liver transplantation. Mac-2 binding protein glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) has been reported as a diagnostic marker for this purpose, and thus, this predictive ability of M2BPGi was assessed in this study.

Patients And Methods: In this retrospective study, 236 patients who received living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) from August 1997 to March 2017 were enrolled. Among them, 94 biopsy patients were analyzed. Further, the predictive ability of fibrotic biopsy using M2BPGi, Fibroscan, and Fib-4 index was compared.

Results: Of 94 LDLT patients (53 men, 41 women), the median ages of recipients and donors were 57.5 and 33.0 years, respectively. The median M2BPGi values in patients with F0 (n = 11), F1 (n = 38), F2 (n = 35), and F3/4 (n = 10) were 0.680, 0.760, 1.240, and 4.110 COI, respectively. There were significant correlations between the fibrotic stage and M2BPGi levels (Kruskal-Wallis test, P < .0001). The area under the ROC curve for the diagnosis of F ≥ 2 in M2BPGi was 0.778, which was superior to Fibroscan (0.701) and Fib-4 index (0.639).

Conclusion: M2BPGi is an accurate, non-invasive detection method for significant fibrosis after LDLT.