A functional promoter polymorphism in the chitinase-like protein gene (CH3L1) is associated with liver fibrosis in a FibroScan staged cohort

Introduction: Cartilage glycoprotein-39 (YKL-40) is supposed to be involved in tissue remodelling and degradation of extracellular matrix. Recently a functional promoter variant (-131G>C) of the corresponding gene CH3L1 has been associated with advanced liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (Berres et al. J Hepatol 2009;50:370–376). We aimed to verify this association in a cohort of patients with mixed aetiologies of chronic liver disease and in a subgroup of patients with ongoing HCV infection. Patients and methods: We enrolled 790 patients with chronic liver diseases, includ…