Letter: Serum Cytokeratin-18 Levels for Liver Fibrosis Prediction

Dear editor, we have read with great interest the meta-analysis by yang et al. the reported objective was to evaluate the relation between cytokeratin-18 (ck-18) levels and hepatitis pathogenesis. eight case-control studies were included in the meta-analysis according to the selection criteria adopted. high serum ck-18 levels were found in patients with hepatitis compared to controls. moreover, increased serum ck-18 levels were related to fibrosis progression irrespective of ethnicity (asians, africans, and caucasians) and liver disease etiology (chronic hepatitis c, chronic hepatitis b, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis [nash]). the authors concluded that serum ck-18 could be adopted as a diagnostic marker of liver injury and as a predictor of hepatitis progression.