Overexpression of serum sST2 is associated with poor prognosis in acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure

Summary Background and objective Interleukin-33 (IL-33) and soluble ST2 (sST2) have been demonstrated to be involved in liver injury. The present study aims to evaluate serum IL-33 and sST2 level in acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure (ACHBLF) and determine their predictive value for prognosis. Methods Serum IL-33 and sST2 level in patients with ACHBLF, chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and healthy controls (HCs) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Clinical and laboratory parameters were obtained. Results Serum IL-33 was significantly higher in patients with ACHBLF (313.10 ± 419.97 pg/ml) than those with CHB (97.25 ± 174.67 pg/ml, P P P P r  = 0.43, P r  = 0.26, P  = 0.04). Serum sST2 was significantly correlated with total bilirubin (TBIL; r  = 0.59, P 10 [HBV DNA] ( r  = −0.47, P r  = 0.28, P  = 0.03). Serum sST2 had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.81 in predicting 3-month mortality of ACHBLF. Patients with ACHBLF who had sST2 >1507 pg/ml showed significantly poorer survival than those who had sST2 ≤1507 pg/ml ( P P Conclusions Our study showed that serum IL-33 and sST2 were overexpressed in ACHBLF and sST2 might potentially serve as a prognostic marker for it.