Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Apr 15, 2026; 18(4): 116821
Published online Apr 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v18.i4.116821
Published online Apr 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v18.i4.116821
Diagnostic value of serum chitinase-3-like protein 1 for liver fibrosis/cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma
Hai-Ying Zhang, Run-Ling Zhang, Yu-Yuan Jia, Yan Liu, Ling Zhu, Feng Liu, Hui-Ying Rao, Peking University People's Hospital, Peking University Hepatology Institute, Infectious Disease and Hepatology Center of Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing Key Laboratory of Hepatitis C and Immunotherapy for Liver Diseases, Beijing International Cooperation Base for Science and Technology on Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Diagnosis, Beijing 100044, China
Co-first authors: Hai-Ying Zhang and Run-Ling Zhang.
Author contributions: Zhang HY and Zhang RL contribute equally to this study as co-first authors; Zhang HY and Zhang RL designed the experiments, completed the manuscript writing and conducted the collation and statistical analysis; Jia YY, Liu Y and Zhu L conducted clinical data collection and recorded the data; Liu F and Rao HY make critical revisions to important knowledge content; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China, No. 2022YFA1303804.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethical Review Committee of Peking University People's Hospital (Approval No. 2025PHB541-001).
Informed consent statement: This study does not require the signing of an informed consent form, as it employs de-identified data for analysis and adheres to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The ethics committee of the institution agreed to waive informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Corresponding author: Hui-Ying Rao, MD, Professor, Peking University People's Hospital, Peking University Hepatology Institute, Infectious Disease and Hepatology Center of Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing Key Laboratory of Hepatitis C and Immunotherapy for Liver Diseases, Beijing International Cooperation Base for Science and Technology on Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Diagnosis, No. 133 Fuchengmennei Street, Xicheng District, Beijing 100044, China. rao.huiying@163.com
Received: November 21, 2025
Revised: January 4, 2026
Accepted: January 12, 2026
Published online: April 15, 2026
Processing time: 138 Days and 16.5 Hours
Revised: January 4, 2026
Accepted: January 12, 2026
Published online: April 15, 2026
Processing time: 138 Days and 16.5 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Serum chitinase-3-like protein 1 (CHI3L1) demonstrates robust diagnostic performance for liver cirrhosis [area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) = 0.874], hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; AUC = 0.858) and HCC recurrence (AUC = 0.723) in liver disease patient cohorts. CHI3L1 exhibits positive correlations with liver stiffness measurement and the fibrosis-4 index, effectively differentiates fibrosis grades F3 and F4, and emerged as a reliable non-invasive biomarker for liver disease stratification, treatment monitoring and prognosis prediction, with superior performance than single traditional indices.