Development of a Novel Clinical Diagnostic Method for the Detection of Glycosylation Changes in Liver Fibrosis

• Development of a Novel Clinical Diagnostic Method for the Detection of Glycosylation Changes in Liver Fibrosis

AUTHOR(S)

Takashi KAGAWA, Chikayuki TSURUNO and Youichi TAKAHAMA

Immunology & Chemistry Product Engineering, Product Development, Sysmex Corporation

SUMMARY

Diagnosis and treatment of a patient with chronic hepatitis or hepatic cirrhosis require assessment of the progression of liver fibrosis using simplified and highly accurate diagnostic approaches. While liver biopsy is considered the gold standard for diagnosis, it is a highly invasive procedure that it is not easily implementable. Also, conventional serum tests have issues with diagnostic accuracy. Thus, a simplified blood test is desirable as recommended in “A 7-year strategy plan for Hepatitis research” by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Since 2009, when Sysmex participated in the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, hereinafter “NEDO” project, we engaged in the development of a practical assay kit HISCL-M2BPGi reagent (Sysmex Corporation, Kobe, Japan) together with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). The kit provides an available measurement result in a minimum of 17 minutes after blood sampling. This kit enables us to assess the progression of liver fibrosis using a simplified and highly accurate measurement.

KEY WORDS

M2BPGi (Mac-2 Binding Protein Glycosylation Isomer), Liver Fibrosis, Wisteria Floribunda Agglutinin, Glycosylation Maker