Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 28, 2017; 23(48): 8439-8442
Published online Dec 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i48.8439
Serum levels of angiotensin converting enzyme as a biomarker of liver fibrosis
Aline Silva Miranda, Ana Cristina Simões e Silva
Aline Silva Miranda, Ana Cristina Simões e Silva, Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Medical Investigation, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG 30130-100, Brazil
Aline Silva Miranda, Laboratory of Neurobiology, Department of Morphology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG 30130-100, Brazil
Ana Cristina Simões e Silva, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG 30130-100, Brazil
Author contributions: Miranda AS and Simões e Silva AC designed the article, performed literature search, and wrote and reviewed the paper.
Supported by CNPq, No. 460334/2014-0; FAPEMIG, No. CDS - PPM-00555-15 (to Simoes e Silva AC); and 2016 NARSAD Young Investigator Grant Awardee from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, No. 25414 (to Miranda AS).
Conflict-of-interest statement: Miranda AS and Simões e Silva AC declare no conflict of interest related to this publication.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Ana Cristina Simões e Silva, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Medical Investigation, Faculty of Medicine, UFMG, Alfredo Balena Avenue, Number 190, 2nd floor, Room #281, Belo Horizonte, MG 30130-100, Brazil. acssilva@hotmail.com
Telephone: +55-31-34098073 Fax: +55-31-34099770
Received: October 30, 2017
Peer-review started: October 31, 2017
First decision: November 22, 2017
Revised: December 4, 2017
Accepted: December 13, 2017
Article in press: December 13, 2017
Published online: December 28, 2017
Core Tip

Core tip: The therapeutic intervention for patients with chronic hepatitis B frequently relies on the pathological classification of liver fibrosis severity in biopsy. The establishment of non-invasive and accurate methods to detect reversible stages of liver fibrosis is still a challenge. High serum levels of angiotensin converting enzyme seem to better predict intermediate liver fibrosis than other classical fibrotic markers. Non-invasive methods to detect intermediate stages of liver fibrosis with very good accuracy may permit the introduction and/or evaluation of treatments during reversible stages of the disease. Further studies are urgently necessary to fully clarify the role of RAS components in liver disease.