Serum Golgi protein 73 is a marker comparable to APRI for diagnosing significant fibrosis in children with liver disease

Serum Golgi protein 73 (GP73) is a promising marker for significant fibrosis in adults. However, current diagnostic value of serum GP73 for liver fibrosis in children is unknown. To investigate the relationship between levels of serum GP73 and liver fibrosis in children, we measured serum GP73 in 86 healthy controls and 183 patients with liver diseases using commercially available double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The value of serum GP73 in fibrosis stage assessment was compared with aspartate transaminase to platelet ratio index (APRI). We found that serum GP73 was decreasing with age in healthy controls, while it was increasing with the extent of inflammation and fibrosis in patients with liver diseases. Though area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) of serum GP73 for diagnosing significant fibrosis was nearly equal to APRI (0.62 vs 0.64) in patients aged 3 years or older, AUROC for serum GP73 was superior to APRI (0.76 vs 0.67) in patients aged below 3 years, indicating that serum GP73 is comparable to APRI for diagnosing significant fibrosis in children.