The impact of chronic liver diseases on the level of heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP)‎ concentrations

Abstract EN

Objectives : Heart-type fatty acid binding-protein (H-FABP) has been reported to be a potential novel biochemical marker for the early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

The presence of H-FABP in the liver has not been reported.

The aim of this study was to compare the effect of chronic liver diseases on the level of H-FABP concentrations.

Methods : The effects of chronic liver diseases including infective hepatitis and cirrhosis on the concentration of H-FABP was studied in a small group of patients (n = 10, mean age ± SD = 58.33 ± 7.19 years).

The serum concentrations of the following markers were measured : H-FABP, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and bilirubin and compared with a reference control group (20 healthy blood donors, mean age ± SD = 63.8 ± 8.01).

Results : The serum concentrations of these markers in the control group as compared to patients with chronic liver disease were as follows (mean ± SD) : H-FABP = 6.86 ± 2.21 μg / L versus 6.44 ± 3.06 μg / L (p = NS) ; ALT = 29.8 ± 14.7 U / L versus ALT = 198.67 ± 122.89 U / L (p < 0.0005) and bilirubin = 9.6 ± 4.0 μmol / L versus bilirubin = 100.89 ± 87.85 μmol / L (p < 0.0001).

Conclusion : These data illustrate clearly that there is no significant interference with the normal concentration of H-FABP in the presence of liver diseases, despite the significant elevation of liver enzymes and proteins.

These data may support a useful role of H-FABP for the diagnosis of myocardial injury in patients with liver diseases.