Press Release

27.01.2015

SCCA-IgM biomarker in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)

A collaborative study published by the Journal of Viral Hepatitis (doi: 10.1111/jvh.12394) evaluated the occurrence of SCCA-IgM (Hepa-IC™ XEPTAGEN) in sera of chronic hepatitis C patients (HCV) and its possible relation with histological features of potential disease progression, in particular with the presence of NASH at liver biopsy. Authored by the Department of Medicine of the Universities of Padua, Verona and Turin, Xeptagen and the University Hospital in Geneva (CH) the study showed that patients with more severe grades of steatosis had significantly higher SCCA-IgM values. Since SCCA-IgM was found as an independent variable of NASH at multivariate analysis, this biomarker may be useful to identify HCV infected patients with histological features of potential disease progression and hepatocellular carcinoma development.