Plasma Nogo-A and placental growth factor levels are associated with portal hypertension in patients with liver cirrhosis

Table 1 Demographic, clinical and endoscopic characteristics of the patients and controls

Variable	Patients (n = 122)	Controls (n = 30)
Sex (male/female; %)	55/45	50/50
Age (yr; SD)	51.14 (± 9.73)	48.92 (± 15.46)
BMI (kg/m2; SD)	26.04 (± 4.63)	25.30 (± 3.51)
Etiology (N (%) of patients)
Alcohol induced cirrhosis	61 (50)
HCV cirrhosis	61 (50)
Child-Pugh class (A/B/C; %)	61.5/24.6/13.9
MELD score (SD)	11.15 (± 4.32)
TE (kPa; SD)	31.37 (± 19.79)
Ascites (% of patients)	38.5
Varices (% of patients)
Absent	45.1
F1	27
F2	18.9
F3	9
Risk signs of bleeding (N of patients)	24
HVPG (mmHg; SD)	13.70 (± 6.52)
HVPG 1-5 mmHg (% of patients)	11.5
HVPG 5-9 mmHg (% of patients)	19.7
CSPH; HVPG ≥ 10 mmHg (% of patients)	70.5
SPH; HVPG ≥ 12 mmHg (% of patients)	57.4

SD: Standard deviation; BMI: Body mass index; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; MELD: Model of End Stage Liver Disease; HVPG: Hepatic venous pressure gradient; CSPH: Clinically significant portal hypertension; SPH: Severe portal hypertension; TE: Transient elastography.

Table 2 Diagnostic performance of placental growth factor and Nogo-A for clinically significant, severe portal hypertension and high-risk varicose veins

	Cut-off value1	Sensitivity (%)	Specificity (%)	PPV (%)	NPV (%)	P value
CSPH
PLGF	25 pg/mL	55.7	76.7	84.8	42.6	0.003
Nogo-A	1.12 ng/mL	36.6	93.1	92.9	37.5	0.01
SPH
PlGF	26.8 pg/mL	59.0	79.5	81.8	55.4	0.0001
Nogo-A	1 ng/mL	33.3	92.5	87	48	0.014
High-risk varicose veins
PlGF	19.83 pg/mL	90.5	44.2	30.6	94.4	0.034

¹Cut-off values with most accurate sensitivity and specificity to differentiate patients with the condition from patients without the condition. PlGF: Placental growth factor; SPH: Severe portal hypertension; CSPH: Clinically significant portal hypertension; PPV: Positive predictive value; NPV: Negative predictive value.