Gao GF, Yu J, Tong L, Jiang D. Predictive value of core-fucosylated low-molecular-weight kininogen levels in patients with liver fibrosis: A prospective study. World J Gastroenterol 2025; 31(29): 105210 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i29.105210]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dong Jiang, MD, Department of Ultrasound, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Third Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, No. 700 Moyu North Road, Jiading District, Shanghai 200433, China. jiangdong2002317@aliyun.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Prospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 7, 2025; 31(29): 105210 Published online Aug 7, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i29.105210
Predictive value of core-fucosylated low-molecular-weight kininogen levels in patients with liver fibrosis: A prospective study
Guo-Feng Gao, Jiao Yu, Lin Tong, Dong Jiang
Guo-Feng Gao, Jiao Yu, Department of Hepatology, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Third Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
Lin Tong, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Third Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
Dong Jiang, Department of Ultrasound, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Third Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
Co-first authors: Guo-Feng Gao and Jiao Yu.
Co-corresponding authors: Lin Tong and Dong Jiang.
Author contributions: Gao GF wrote the manuscript; Gao GF and Yu J performed the experiments, acquired and analyzed data, and made equal contributions as co-first authors; Yu J interpreted the data; Tong L and Jiang D designed and coordinated the study and contributed equally to this work as co-corresponding authors; all authors approved the final version of the article.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Third Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, No. EHBHKY2022-H064-P001.
Clinical trial registration statement: This study is registered, No. ChiCTR2500103815.
Informed consent statement: All patients provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
Data sharing statement: Dataset available from the corresponding author.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dong Jiang, MD, Department of Ultrasound, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Third Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, No. 700 Moyu North Road, Jiading District, Shanghai 200433, China. jiangdong2002317@aliyun.com
Received: March 12, 2025 Revised: June 5, 2025 Accepted: July 15, 2025 Published online: August 7, 2025 Processing time: 145 Days and 16.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Core-fucosylated low-molecular-weight kininogen (LMWK-Fc) levels are significantly elevated in patients with liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.
AIM
To assess the value of LMWK-Fc as a diagnostic biomarker for liver fibrosis.
METHODS
Our study included 132 healthy people and 132 patients with liver fibrosis. The LMWK-Fc level was measured based on the principle of chemiluminescence. Fibrosis stage and inflammatory activity were assessed by liver biopsy. Comparative analysis between groups and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis were performed.
RESULTS
LMWK-Fc had an area under the curve of 0.871, which indicates a good level of performance in distinguishing between patients with and without fibrosis. Furthermore, the LMWK-Fc level had a certain correlation with the liver stiffness value, which reached 0.5789.
CONCLUSION
LMWK-Fc could be used as a non-invasive marker of liver fibrosis. Further studies are needed to evaluate the usefulness of this marker.
Core Tip: Liver fibrosis is a common outcome of chronic liver disease, and early detection and diagnosis of liver fibrosis are crucial. Traditional biopsy-based liver fibrosis diagnosis has limitations such as invasiveness. Core-fucosylated low-molecular-weight kininogen (LMWK-Fc) refers to the presence of fucose residues connected to the core of N-linked polysaccharide structures. Changes in LMWK-Fc levels may reflect the evolution of liver fibrosis. This study addressed this gap by studying the potential role of LMWK-Fc levels as a biomarker for predicting liver fibrosis, finding that LMWK-Fc may be a potential biomarker for screening and diagnosing liver fibrosis.
