Serum thymosin β4 levels in patients with hepatitis B virus-related liver failure

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of the patients [median (IQR)]

	ACLF	CLF	CR	Chronic hepatitis B	Healthy subjects
n	30	31	30	32	30
Age (yr)	54 (48-61)	50 (46-55)	50 (37-55)	39 (31-45)	41 (31-49)
Gender (M:F)	23:7	21:10	20:10	26:6	20:10
ALB (g/L)	30.9 (26.3-33.2)	25.7 (22.6-28.9)	42.2 (38.4-45.7)	46.7 (42.0-49.1)	39.3 (38.1-41.1)
ALT (IU/L)	174.0 (104.3-653.0)	38.0 (27.5-49.5)	35.5 (24.0-52.8)	57.5 (25.0-75.5)	30.5 (25.1-34.7)
AST (IU/L)	274.5 (74.0-521.0)	34.0 (21.0-71.0)	19.0 (9.3-32.3)	15.0 (10.0-20.5)	23.3 (19.2-31.3)
TBIL (μmol/L)	409.7 (208.1-474.7)	170.9 (98.2-215.2)	14.3 (12.5-18.1)	15.1 (12.7-20.5)	9.7 (8.75-13.2)
CHE	2699 (1760-3286)	1586 (1129-2035)	3526 (3287-4529)	4938 (4168-5465)	6784 (6553-7463)
INR	2.29 (1.94-2.70)	2.52 (2.27-2.85	1.08 (1.01-1.13)	1.02 (1.01-1.04)	1.01 (0.95-1.02)
PLT	72.5 (44.5-104.0)	44.0 (30.5-79.0)	89.0 (78.0-99.8)	197.5 (178.0-225.0)	197.5 (187.0-222.3)
MELD	23.75 (19.81-29.55)	22.97 (19.16-27.98)	3.52 (2.39-5.23)	2.65 (1.72-4.44)	2.65 (2.05-3.70)
Child-Pugh score	11 (10-12)	12 (11-12)	6 (5-7)	5 (5-6)	5 (5-6)

ACLF: Acute-on-chronic liver failure; CLF: Chronic liver failure; CR: Cirrhosis; ALB: Albumin; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; TBIL: Total bilirubin; CHE: Cholinesterase; INR: International normalized ratio of prothrombin time; PLT: Platelet; MELD: Model for end-stage liver disease.

Table 2 Correlation coefficients (r) and P values of thymosin β4 values vs biochemical parameters in chronic liver disease patients

Characteristics	r value	P value
ALB	0.536	< 0.001
ALT	-0.210	0.020
AST	-0.553	< 0.001
TBIL	-0.581	< 0.001
CHE	0.656	< 0.001
INR	-0.605	< 0.001
PLT	0.541	< 0.001
Child-Pugh score	-0.629	< 0.001
MELD	-0.587	< 0.001

Table 3 Comparison of thymosin β4 levels between survivors and non-survivors in liver failure group [median (IQR)]

Group	n	Survivors	Non-survivors	P value
LF	61	0.8144 (0.3979-1.1510)	0.4699 (0.2771-0.6658)	0.007
ACLF	30	0.8144 (0.4042-1.0998)	0.3656 (0.2291-0.4458)	0.016
CLF	31	0.8329 (0.4306-1.4280)	0.6581 (0.5603-0.7713)	0.317

Table 4 Median (IQR) thymosin β4 values (μg/mL) in 13 liver failure patients

Group	1 wk	2 wk	3 wk	4 wk	5 wk
Survivors	0.9402	1.2146	1.2762	1.2226	1.5486
Non-survivors	0.5458	0.6765	0.5056	0.3986	0.3488