Abstract

A Metabolomic Signature Linked to Liver Fibrosis Progression Rate in the Serum of Transplanted Hepatitis C Patients

Ainara Cano, Research Scientist, One Way Liver (OWL)

Biopsy is currently the gold standard for assessing the degree of hepatic fibrosis during hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) after liver transplantation. Therefore, a cheaper, faster and safer non-invasive diagnosis of the different stages of liver fibrosis will improve patient´s quality of life facilitating the efficient use of antiviral treatments. 200 HCV-infected patients were biopsied and classified into five categories of fibrosis one year after transplantation. These categories ranged from grade 0 (no fibrosis) to grade 4 (cirrhosis). Patients with grades 0 and 1 (n=131) were categorized as "slow fibrosers" and with grades 2, 3 and 4 (n=69) as “fast fibrosers”. Methanol and chloroform/methanol serum extracts were analyzed by reverse UPLC-MS. Approximately, 500 metabolites classified as amino acids, fatty acyls, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids and sterol lipids were semi-quantified in order to generate high accuracy predictive models. A metabolomic signature linked to liver fibrosis progression rate has been tracked down. Hence, fibrosis evolution reveals an increase in taurine and glycine-conjugated bile acid species, triacylglycerols and monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids in fast fibrosers when compared to slow fibrosers. In contrast, cholesteryl esters and the ratio branched-chain amino acids/aromatic amino acids decrease in this group.