Cirrhosis or fibrosis?

A simple test accurately determines liver cirrhosis and the stage of the disease

Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+

The diagnosis is based on the analysis of biomarkers of the intestinal microbiota. Unlike modern methods, the new approach is simpler, cheaper and faster. Scientists believe that its widespread introduction will be a turning point for millions of patients with liver diseases.

In the world, almost 850 million people suffer from chronic liver diseases, which can eventually lead to cirrhosis and cancer. Today, MRI and biopsy are used to diagnose the most common liver disease – non–alcoholic fatty disease, but both methods have their drawbacks. Invasive biopsy can damage healthy areas of the organ, and access to magnetic resonance imaging is limited for patients from remote regions.

American scientists have developed a simpler and cheaper way to assess the condition of the liver. The new test analyzes patient stool samples that contain unique biomarkers. The work was published in the journal Cell Metabolism (Oh et al., A Universal Gut-Microbiome-Derived Signature Predicts Cirrhosis), the press release Giant leap in diagnosing liver disease is on the website of the Salk Institute for Biological Research.

"The gut microbiota is a dynamic indicator of minor changes in health status and provides an accurate understanding of the body's work. We aimed to develop a universal test for fibrosis and cirrhosis of the liver based on specific microbiota biomarkers," commented Ronald Evans, co–author of the study.

To identify the most informative biomarkers, scientists used AI and identified 19 types of bacteria that characterize the state of the liver.

The test could determine the presence of liver cirrhosis and the stage of the disease with 94% accuracy, experiments showed.

"This simple and widely available tool can be a real turning point in diagnostics," Evans concluded.

At the moment, scientists intend to find out whether the correction of the composition of the intestinal microbiota affects the slowing down of liver diseases. They also plan to develop tests for bowel cancer, Alzheimer's disease and other diseases in which microbiota regulation is disrupted.

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