Serum levels of bone sialoprotein correlate with portal pressure in patients with liver cirrhosis

PLoS One. 2020 Apr 17;15(4):e0231701. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231701. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Liver cirrhosis represents the common end-stage of chronic liver diseases regardless of its etiology. Patients with compensated disease are mostly asymptomatic, however, progression to a decompensated disease stage is common. The available stratification strategies are often unsuitable to identify patients with a higher risk for disease progression and a limited prognosis. SIBLINGs, soluble glycophosphoproteins, are secreted into the blood by immune-cells. While osteopontin, the most prominent member of the SIBLINGs family, has been repeatedly associated with liver cirrhosis, data on the diagnostic and/or prognostic value of bone sialoprotein (BSP) are scarce and partly inconclusive. In this study, we analyzed the diagnostic and prognostic potential of circulating BSP in comparison to other standard laboratory markers in a large cohort of patients with liver cirrhosis receiving transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS). Serum levels of BSP were similar in patients with different disease stages and were not indicative for prognosis. Interestingly, BSP serum levels did correlate inversely with portal pressure, as well as its surrogates such as platelet count, the portal vein cross-sectional area and correlated positively with the portal venous velocity. In summary, our data highlight that BSP might represent a previously unrecognized marker for portal hypertension in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Biomarkers / blood
  • Disease Progression
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hypertension, Portal / blood
  • Hypertension, Portal / diagnosis*
  • Hypertension, Portal / physiopathology
  • Integrin-Binding Sialoprotein / blood*
  • Liver Cirrhosis / blood
  • Liver Cirrhosis / complications*
  • Liver Cirrhosis / diagnosis
  • Liver Cirrhosis / physiopathology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Portal Pressure / physiology*
  • Portal Vein / physiopathology
  • Prognosis
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Severity of Illness Index

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • IBSP protein, human
  • Integrin-Binding Sialoprotein

Grants and funding

JT is supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB TRR57 to P18; CRC 1382, A09), European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Galaxy, No. 668031 and MICROB-PREDICT, No. 825694) and Societal Challenges - Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing (No. 731875), and Cellex Foundation (PREDICT). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.