Li F, et al. - Researchers evaluated serum soluble T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain containing molecule-3 (sTim-3) levels in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection of several liver diseases. In chronic HBV infection, serum sTim-3 was seen to be involved in disease progression and HCC development. For monitoring the disease progression and predicting the HCC prognosis in chronic HBV infection, it could be potentially used as a marker.

Methods

• Authors quantitatively determined serum sTim-3 levels in 288 patients with chronic HBV infection of several liver diseases.
• They analyzed the sTim-3 levels relative to liver diseases, including HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and overall survival of HCC patients.

Results

• Findings revealed significantly elevated serum sTim-3 levels in patients with chronic HBV infection vs healthy controls (P < 0.001), and the levels from asymptomatic HBV carrier status, chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis to HCC progressively increased.
• Experts noted a close association of serum sTim-3 levels with the severity of liver function abnormalities.
• Results demonstrated that importantly, an independent association of serum sTim-3 levels with HCC risk (OR, 4.310; 95% CI, 2.141–8.676, P < 0.001) compared to non-HCC diseases in chronic HBV infection was seen.
• Serum sTim-3 was also significantly related to the overall survival of HCC patients, with a level >3000 pg/mL being linked to shorter overall survival vs a level ≤3000 pg/mL (P=0.019).