肝線維化の指標としての血中I型 procollagen C末端 peptide

We evaluated the diagnostic implications of substitution of serum type I procollagen C terminal peptide (PIC) for type III procollagen N terminal peptide (PIIIN) for assessment of liver fibrosis in viral and alcoholic liver diseases. Fourty normal subjects, 138 patients with viral liver diseases and 43 with alcoholic liver diseases were investigated. In patients with fatty liver and viral acute hepatitis, the mean PIC values were not significantly different from the normal value. The mean serum values and positive ratio of PIC in chronic hepatitis and viral liver cirrhosis were both increased in proportion to degree of liver fibrosis. The same pattern was also observed in alcoholic liver fibrosis and alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Although the mean serum values and positive ratio of PIIIN were also prone to increase in liver fibrosis, high values of PIIIN were indicated in acute hepatitis, and the positive ratio of PIIIN was far decreased under that of PIC. We suggest that PIC may be a more useful marker than PIIIN for liver fibrosis in viral and alcoholic liver diseases. Furthermore, changes undergone by serum PIC in patients with viral and alcoholic liver diseases show it may be useful for monitoring the progress of liver fibrosis and for drinking or abstainence by alcoholic patients