Genetic association study of profibrogenic gene variants using transient elastography for phenotypic characterization of liver fibrosis

Transient elastography (TE) has been employed to determine the stage of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver diseases with close correlation to liver histology. Recently based on a genome-wide scan, a novel "gene signature" consisting of 7 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has been proposed to identify the risk of progressive fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (Huang et al. Hepatology 2007; epub). Our aim now was to evaluate this gene signature in a large cohort of patients with chronic liver diseases who underwent TE for assessment of liver fibrosis. Patients and m…