Non-invasive biomarkers for monitoring the fibrogenic process in liver: A short survey

Table 3 Future candidate biomarkers of non-invasive diagnosis and follow-up of liver fibrogenesis

Biomarker	Specimen	Assay technology	Pathobiochemical basis
CTGF	Serum	Immunoassay	TGF-β induced expression in and secretion by hepatocytes and hepatic stellate cells
Fibrocytes	Blood, buffy coat	Flow cytometry of CD34+, CD45+, Coll I+ cells qPCR	Supplementation of local fibroblasts at site of liver injury by bone-marrow derived fibrocytes
BMP-7	Serum	Immunoassay	Antagonist of TGF-β, inhibitor of EMT
G-CSF	Blood	Immunoassays	Mobilization of bone-marrow derived fibrocytes
GM-CSF
M-CSF
Proteomics	Serum	Mass spectrometry (MS)	Fibrosis-specific serum protein profiles
Glycomics	Serum	Adaptation of DNA-sequencer/fragment analyzer technology to profiling of desialylated N-linked oligo-saccharides	Fibrosis-specific profiles of desialylated serum protein linked oligosaccharides (N-glycans)
Xylosyl-transferase (EC 2.4.2.26)	Serum	LC-MS/MS	Key enzyme in the biosynthesis of glycosaminoglycan chains in proteoglycans, e.g. in hepatic stellate cells and hepatocytes