Robust Detection of Liver Steatosis and Staging of NAFLD by an Improved ELISA for Serum Cytokeratin-18 Fragments

摘要

To the Editor: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a major cause of chronic liver disease, ranging from simple steatosis (nonalcoholic fatty liver, NAFL) to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and cirrhosis. Biomarkers for noninvasively monitoring NAFLD activity and progression are urgently needed. However, it is increasingly recognized that aminotrans-ferases are not reliable markers to faithfully distinguish between NAFL and NASH (1). Moreover, NASH can be histologically detected in -50% of NAFLD patients with normal aminotransferase levels (2).