165692 20260113234334.0 doi 10.1371/journal.pone.0164883 sideral 129712 ART-2016-129712 eng Puigvehí, Marc Diagnostic Accuracy of the Enhanced Liver Fibrosis (ELF\u00ae) Score Using HCV-Infected Serum Samples Cryopreserved for up to 25 Years 2016 Introduction & Aims Cryopreservation of serum samples is a standard procedure for biomedical research in tertiary centers. However, studies evaluating the long-term biological stability of direct liver fibrosis markers using cryopreserved samples are scarce. Methods We compared the stability of hyaluronic acid (HA), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP-1) and amino-terminal propeptide of type III procollagen (PIIINP) in 225 frozen serum samples of HCV-infected patients with a paired liver biopsy for up to 25 years (1990–2014). Moreover, we assessed the diagnostic accuracy (AUROC) of the Enhanced Liver Fibrosis (ELF®) score to identify significant fibrosis (F2-4) and its predictive capacity to identify clinical events during follow-up. Results Seventy-six patients (39,8%) had mild fibrosis (F0-1) and 115 (60,2%) significant fibrosis (F2-4). HA, PIIINP and TIMP-1 values remained stable during the period from 1995 to 2014 while those of 1990–94 were slightly higher. We did not find significant differences in the median ELF® values during the 20-year period from 1995–2014 in patients with mild (from 8,4 to 8,7) and significant fibrosis (from 9,9 to 10,9) (p = ns between periods and fibrosis stages). The AUROCs of ELF® to identify significant fibrosis were high in all the periods (from 0,85 to 0,91). The ELF® score showed a good predictive capability to identify clinical events during follow-up. Conclusions The biological stability of direct serum markers (HA, PIIINP and TIMP-1) using HCV-infected samples cryopreserved for 20 years is good. Therefore, the diagnostic accuracy of the ELF® score to identify significant fibrosis and clinical events during follow-up is very high. Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es 2.806 2016 MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES 15 / 63 = 0.238 2016 Q1 T1 1.236 2016 Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) 2016 Q1 Medicine (miscellaneous) 2016 Q1 Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous) 2016 Q1 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Hernández, Juanjo Broquetas, Teresa Coll, Susanna Garcia-Retortillo, Montserrat Cañete, Nuria Giménez, Maria Dolors Garcia, Mar (orcid)0000-0003-2078-8205 Bory, Felipe Salvadó, Margarita Sola, Ricard Carrión, José A. Strnad, Pavel 11, 12 (2016), e0164883 PLoS One PLoS ONE 1932-6203 1142406 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/165692/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 1999164 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/165692/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:165692 articulos driver 2026-01-13-22:06:04 ARTICLE