Proposal of a Novel Serological Algorithm Combining FIB-4 and Serum M2BPGi for Advanced Fibrosis in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Background/Aims: Noninvasive methods have become increasingly critical in the diagnosis of fibrosis in chronic liver diseases. Herein, we compared the diagnostic performance of serum Mac2 binding protein glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) and other serological panels for fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and proposed an improved two-step diag-nostic algorithm for advanced fibrosis.Methods: We enrolled 231 patients diagnosed with NAFLD who underwent a liver biopsy. We subsequently evaluated the diagnostic performance of serological panels, including serum M2B-PGi, a fibrosis index based on four factors (FIB-4), aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), and NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS), in predicting the stage of liver fibrosis. We then constructed a two-step algorithm to better differentiate advanced fibrosis.Results: The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of serum M2BPGi, FIB-4, APRI, and NFS for advanced fibrosis (& GE;F3) were 0.823, 0.858, 0.779, and 0.827, respectively. To reduce the performance of unnecessary liver biopsy, we propose a two-step algorithm using FIB-4 as an initial diagnostic tool and serum M2BPGi (& GE;0.6) as an additional diagnostic method for patients classified as intermediate (23%). Using the proposed algorithm, the sensitivity, speci-ficity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 0.812, 0.814, 0.814, 0.600, and 0.927, respectively.Conclusions: Serum M2BPGi is a simple and effective test for advanced fibrosis in patients with NAFLD. Application of the two-step algorithm based on FIB-4 and M2BPGi proposed here can improve diagnostic performance and reduce unnecessary tests, making diagnosis easily acces-sible, especially in primary medical centers. (Gut Liver, Published online August 14, 2023)

Automated summary

This study compared the diagnostic performance of serum M2BPGi and other serological panels in the diagnosis of fibrosis in patients with NAFLD, and proposed an improved two-step diagnostic algorithm. The results showed that serum M2BPGi performed well in predicting the stage of liver fibrosis, and the algorithm can improve the diagnostic accuracy of fibrosis and reduce unnecessary tests.