Assessment of matrix metalloproteinase-1 for marking liver cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis C patients

Our objective in the present study was to observe the change in the serum MMP-1 concentration using ELISA in 129 chronic hepatitis C (CHC) (78 non-cirrhotic and 51 with cirrhotic liver) and 50 healthy controls. The values of MMP-1 concentration increased in patients with CHC according to the stage of liver fibrosis. An area under the ROC curves (AUC) of the MMP-1 was 0.98 for discriminating patients with cirrhotic liver from healthy individuals and was 0.78 for discriminating patients with cirrhotic liver from non cirrhotic patients. The diagnostic potential of MMP-1 for discriminating cirrhosis from healthy individuals was very high with 98% sensitivity and 97% efficiency. MMP-1 detected cirrhosis in CHC with 71% sensitivity and 73% efficiency. In Conclusion, measurement of serum MMP-1 is useful for diagnosing liver cirrhosis in CHC patients.