WebsEdge/Health

In 2004, researchers at VIB (Flemish Institute for Biotechnology) in Belgium were able to use Glycomics as a biomarker to distinguish patients with compensated cirrhotic liver disease from those with noncirrhotic chronic liver disease, opening the way for a new, non-invasive test for liver disease. Over the years, in close collaboration with Ghent University Hospital, scientists and clinicians have worked together to demonstrate its practical use to detect a range of liver diseases from Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) to Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Having undergone clinical trials its now commercially available. Now, this tool is being brought to liver transplant. Until recently, there was no reliable way to determine if a donor liver would successfully graft to a host, leading to costly and dangerous rejection of donor livers. A recent study however shows that Glycomics is able identify protein glycosylation patterns associated with primary non-function (PNF). Through this kind of broad cooperation between basic research scientists, hepatologists as well as transplant surgeons, Ghent University Hospital is showing the way forward to better treatment for liver disease patients.