Biomarkers for primary biliary cholangitis: current perspectives

Abstract

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a chronic progressive cholestatic disease characterized by destruction of small- and medium-sized intrahepatic bile ducts. It is no longer a rare disease, since many new asymptomatic cases are incidentally identified. Liver biopsy is diagnostically critical but not always feasible or practical to be performed. Many potential, noninvasive, markers have been proposed to replace liver biopsy and further provide the assessment of disease severity and ultimate prognosis. In this review, we evaluated serum biomarkers proposed for diagnosis, extent of fibrosis, disease prognosis and attempts for early prediction of treatment response. Older biochemical and immunological markers are presented along with recent reports including the role of microRNAs and promising results based on proteomics and metabolomics.

Keywords:

• primary biliary cholangitis
• autoantibodies
• microRNAs
• proteomics
• treatment response

Author contributions

Designed the review, revised the article and finally approved the text: EK. Acquired the data and revised the manuscript: DS. Acquired the data and prepared the draft: AV. All authors contributed toward data analysis, drafting and revising the paper and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.