Bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) is a key
protein in organogenesis and liver development. The
protein has been studied in the context of
liver fibrosis and regeneration. The aim of the present study was to explore any possible association between
fibrosis levels (as revealed by liver biopsy) and serum
BMP-7 levels.
METHODOLOGY: The study group contained 120 (63.5%) males and 69 (36.5%) females, and the control group contained 25 males (49.0%) and 26 females (51%). In general, serum
BMP-7 values of patients were higher than those of controls (p = 0.001). Serum
BMP-7 values of patients with
liver fibrosis of stages 1, 2, 3, or 4 were higher than control values (all p values = 0.01), but the serum
BMP-7 levels of patients with stage 5
fibrosis were similar to that of controls. Associations between
fibrosis stage and the serum levels of
BMP-7, ALT, HBVDNA, platelets, and
albumin were all statistically significant (p = 0.001). The AUROC for the
BMP-7 level in advanced stage
fibrosis was found to be 0.23. The data were analyzed using the binary logistic regression analysis (backward stepwise method) and
BMP-7, HBVDNA, and platelet levels were found to be risk factors associated with
fibrosis (p values 0.031, 0.040, and 0.001, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: