Press Release

02.05.2018

A novel algorithm to detect NASH in HCV-positive patients

A recent publication in the International Journal for Biological Markers describes the promising diagnostic performance of SCCA-IgM combined with common clinical data for the detection of non-alcoholic steato-hepatitis (NASH) in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

In the study, different algorithms combining SCCA-IgM levels with other clinical data were created and validated to provide the probability of having NASH. A statistically significant correlation was found between histological presence of NASH and SCCA-IgM, insulin, homeostasis model assessment of ?-cell function (HOMA), hemoglobin, high density lipoprotein (HDL), and ferritin levels, and also smoke.

Compared to the use of a single marker, algorithms that combined four, six or seven variables identified NASH with higher accuracy. The best diagnostic performance was obtained with the logistic regression combination, which included all seven variables correlated with NASH.

The algorithms presented in the paper are the first ones that may be used specifically to identify NASH in HCV-positive patients.

The paper is available here http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1724600817753577