SynthesisJournal of clinical laboratory analysis2025
Diagnostic Value of Serum Cytokeratin 18 for the Staging of Liver Inflammation and Fibrosis: A Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of clinical laboratory analysis, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Interplay of childhood metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and obesity in the development of youth-onset type 2 diabetes.World journal of clinical pediatrics · 2026Article
- Cytokeratin-18 increase as a signal for early liver cell changes in high-fat diet-induced obesity before overt steatohepatitis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Article
- Adipokine and Hepatokines in Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD): Current and Developing Trends.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Serum metabolic profiling in diabetic kidney disease patients using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.Diabetology & metabolic syndrome · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsAccurate assessment of liver inflammation and fibrosis is of vital importance in the clinical management of patients with liver diseases. Our aim is to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of serum cytokeratin 18 (CK18) for staging of liver inflammation and fibrosis against a liver biopsy in adults.
methodsWe systematically searched articles from eight electronic databases. Two authors independently selected included studies, extracted data, and assessed quality. In our meta-analysis, we used the random-effects meta-analysis model. Publication bias, sensitivity analysis, heterogeneity analysis, and post-test probability were used in this meta study.
resultsA total of 20 studies with 2235 patients were initially found by the search strategies. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) of the summary receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.56, 0.81, and 0.810 for significant fibrosis; 0.64, 0.76, and 0.785 for advanced fibrosis; 0.53, 0.76, and 0.830 for cirrhosis; and 0.68, 0.73, and 0.786 for significant inflammation, respectively. High heterogeneity was observed in our meta-analysis because of factors such as the proportion of males, total number, and antigens of CK-18.
conclusionSerum CK18 had moderate diagnostic value (AUC > 0.7) in different stages of liver fibrosis and significant inflammation, offering a complementary approach to other non-invasive indicators such as serological biomarkers and imaging techniques. Future research should focus on elucidating the role of CK18 in the occurrence and progression of hepatitis and liver fibrosis, particularly in liver diseases with diverse etiologies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.