by Chisato Saeki, Tsunekazu Oikawa, Tomoya Kanai, Sachie Kiryu, Hiroshi Kamioka, Kaoru Ueda, Masanori Nakano, Yuichi Torisu, Masayuki Saruta, Akihito Tsubota Aim The progression from compensated to decompensated cirrhosis markedly worsens prognosis. This study investigated the clinical utility of serum autotaxin (ATX) levels as a predictive biomarker for decompensation and mortality, particularly in patients with compensated cirrhosis.
Methods A total of 210 patients with cirrhosis (165 with compensated cirrhosis) were retrospectively analyzed and classified into three groups based on baseline serum ATX levels: low-, intermediate-, and high-ATX groups. Results Over a median follow-up of 51.6 months, 43 patients (20.5%) died of liver-related events, and 26 patients (15.8%) with compensated cirrhosis at baseline progressed to decompensation.
In both the overall cohort and the compensated cirrhosis subgroup, the high-ATX group had significantly lower cumulative survival rates than the intermediate- and low-ATX groups ( p p = 0.039; compensated cirrhosis subgroup: HR, 7.488; p p p Conclusion ATX represents a promising non-invasive biomarker for predicting decompensation and poor prognosis in patients with compensated cirrhosis.
PLOS ONE (Medicine) published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 09 Apr 2026.
The item focuses on Clinical usefulness of serum autotaxin levels for predicting decompensation development and prognosis in patients with compensated cirrhosis.
Review the original article for the full source wording and details.