Significance of biglycan and osteopontin as non-invasive markers of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus and chronic hepatitis C virus

Several studies were performed to evaluate the degree of liver fibrosis by non-invasive markers. We aimed to assess the diagnostic value of both biglycan (BGN) and osteopontin (OPN) as non-invasive markers of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC). This study was performed on 100 patients with CHB virus, 100 patients with CHC virus and 100 normal controls. All participants were subjected to the following laboratory tests: hemoglobin, platelet, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, albumin, international normalized ratio, HBs Ag, hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody, hepatitis B virus DNA, HCV RNA, liver biopsy, BGN and OPN. We found that BGN level was significantly increased in the CHB group compared with the controls (p<0.001), but the level was not different between the CHC group and the controls (p<0.96). OPN was increased in both the CHB and CHC groups compared with the controls (p<0.001). Positive correlation was found between fibrosis stages and BGN level of the CHB group (r=0.64; p<0.001) and between fibrosis stages and OPN level of the CHB (r=0.63; p<0.001) and CHC (r=0.59; p<0.03) groups. The area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity of BGN were 1.0, 100% and 100% in predicting fibrosis in patients with CHB, and 0.50, 26% and 78% in predicting fibrosis in patients with CHC. OPN had an AUC of 0.997, sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 100% in predicting fibrosis in patients with CHB, and 0.974, 96.5% and 100% in predicting fibrosis in patients with CHC. In conclusion, BGN and OPN could be considered non-invasive markers for liver fibrosis assessment.