Serum Levels of Annexin A2 as a Candidate Biomarker for Hepatic Fibrosis in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis B

Background: hepatologists have studied serologic markers of liver injury for decades. annexins are a prominent group of such markers and annexin a2 (anxa2) is one of the best characterized annexins. anxa2 inhibits hbv polymerase among other functions. its expression is up-regulated in regenerative hepatocytes. objectives: to determine if serum anxa2 level has a role in estimating liver damage in chronic hbv infection and investigate whether anxa2 levels correlate with hepatic fibrosis. patients and methods: this study included 173 patients with chronic hepatitis b (chb) and 51 healthy controls. liver fibrosis was graded histologically on liver biopsy samples. blood samples were taken from patients during biopsy and serum anxa2 levels were measured with elisa. results: in a group of adult patients with chb, anxa2 values were far higher than those of the control group (p = 0.001). when we assessed anxa2 levels based on fibrosis stages, serum anxa2 levels of patients with early stage fibrosis (stages 1 - 3) were significantly higher than those of patients with advanced stage fibrosis (stages 4 - 5; p = 0.001). conclusions: anxa2 is a useful biomarker for early stage fibrosis in patients with chb.