Are adropin, apelin, elabela, asprosin and betatrophin biomarkers for chronic hepatitis and staging of fibrosis?

Chronic viral hepatitis affects nearly one half billion people; it can result in hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis if untreated. We investigated whether the polypeptides, adropin, apelin, elabela, asprosin and betatrophin, could be useful biomarkers for diagnosing chronic hepatitis and for the staging fibrosis. Patients 18-60 years old who underwent a liver biopsy for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) or C (CHC) from January 2014 to January 2019 were included in our study. The patients were divided into three groups: control group, CHB group, and CHC group. The CHB group comprised four subgroups based on the severity of the hepatic fibrosis. Liver biopsy specimens of all groups were evaluated for adropin, apelin, elabela, asprosin and betatrophin immunoreactivity by light microscopy. Adropin, apelin, elabela and betatrophin were immunoreactive in the hepatocytes, while asprosin was not in any group. In the CHB group, adropin and elabela immunoreactivity was increased significantly in stages III and IV patients compared to the other subgroups, whereas stages I and II patients were comparable to the control group. The CHC group exhibited decreased betatrophin immunoreactivity and increased elabela immunoreactivity compared to the control group. We suggest that adropin and elabela can provide clues for staging and monitoring fibrosis in CHB, and may be potentially useful biomarkers.