Blood reelin in the progression of chronic liver disease

Reelin is an extracellular matrix protein originally found to be associated with neuropsychiatric disorders. Recent findings indicate, that reelin may also play an important role in the process of liver fibrosis as well as in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Against this background, the aim of our study was to explore alterations in blood reelin levels in different stages of chronic liver diseases. We analyzed blood samples of patients with chronic liver disease without liver fibrosis (n ​= ​25), with liver fibrosis (n ​= ​36), with liver cirrhosis (n ​= ​74), with HCC (n ​= ​26) as well as of healthy controls (n ​= ​15). Blood reelin concentrations were determined utilizing an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Blood reelin levels were significantly elevated in patients who had liver fibrosis or cirrhosis compared to patients without liver fibrosis and healthy controls (13.9 (10.2–21.1) ng/ml vs. 11.2 (8.8–16.8) ng/ml, p ​= ​0.032). Importantly, patients with HCC displayed significantly higher reelin concentrations compared to patients with liver cirrhosis alone (27.0 (17.3–35.9) ng/ml vs. 16.6 (11.0–22.7) ng/ml, p ​