In advanced liver disease such as cirrhosis, the collagen fibers deposit perisinusoidal space, and may be released into blood, which reflects the degree of fibrosis. We evaluated the usefulness of serum collagen type IV to assess the cirrhosis
and
the
correlation of serum level of human alpha-fetoprotein(hAFP), and live function tests in 15 normal persons, 24 patients of primary liver carcinoma(Plca), 16 patients of liver cirrhosis(LC), and 16 patients of chronic hepatitis (CH). The
concentrations of
serum collagen type VI9mean±SD) in Plca group(429±229 ng/mL) and LC group(464±21 ng/mL) were higher than in CH group (251±177 ng/mL) and normal persons (177±35 ng/mL)(P<0.05). The hAFP/collagen type Ivratio was hilgh in Plca group
(12.34±20.61)
than in normal or LC group(p<0.05), but LC group(0.08±0.14) was not statistically different from normal persons90.014±0.023). the serum levels of collagen type IV were not correlated with the level of albumin, total bilirubin, AST, ALT,
alkaline
phosphatase, prothrombin time, and platelet count. These results suggest that the serum collagen type IV levels are increased in poor prognostic patients and hAFP/collagen type IV ratio could be useful to discern Plca and LC patients.
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