EXPLORATORY STUDY: BIOMARKERS FOR ADVANCED LIVER FIBROSIS IN PATIENTS WITH AUTOIMMUNE HEPATITIS FROM ROSARIO

Abstract

Introduction
Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic inflammatory disease that can progress to fibrosis and even cirrhosis. Although liver biopsy remains the gold standard for diagnosis, its invasive nature limits its use in the ongoing monitoring of hepatic status in patients.
Objective
This exploratory retrospective study aimed to evaluate the predictive ability of various non-invasive indices for detecting advanced fibrosis in AIH patients, both with and without immunosuppressive treatment.
Materials and Methods
The study included AIH patients with biopsy-confirmed advanced fibrosis and a control group. Routine laboratory parameters were used to calculate various biomarkers, and their diagnostic performance was assessed using ROC curves.
Results
The APRI and FIB-4 indices confirmed their clinical utility (AUC > 0.80). Additionally, erythrocyte indices RDW-CV and RDW-SD (AUC > 0.90), liver enzymes ALT, AST, ALP, GGT (AUC > 0.70), and composite indices GGP, RPR, and RSP (AUC > 0.80) demonstrated excellent diagnostic performance, even in treated patients. In contrast, AAR, RLR, and NLR showed limited predictive capacity (AUC ~0.5–0.7), which reduces their clinical utility.
Conclusion
This study identified highly promising diagnostic markers, even in patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy, and laid the groundwork for their validation in AIH monitoring