[Fluctuation of the fibrosis markers with aging]

Actual age and biological age are not always proportional. To find out indices of aging, other than actual age, we investigated relationship between aging and four hepatic fibrosis markers: hyaluronates, type IV collagen, type IV collagen 7s and P III P. The subject of this study were 78 patients of inpatients and outpatients of our hospital. They were divided into four groups of very elderly (over 80-year-old), elderly (70-79-year-old), non-elderly (50-69-year-old), and non-elderly (20-49-year-old), and these four groups were compared. The results were as follows: regarding hyaluronates value were 86.3 +/- 46.7 ng/ml in the patients in the very elderly group, 58.9 +/- 37.4 ng/ml in the elderly group, 48.7 +/- 71.9 ng/ml in patients aged between 50 and 69 years old, and 22.6 +/- 26.1 ng/ml in patients aged between 20 and 49 years old. Regarding type IV collagen value were 134.6 +/- 27.8 ng/ml in the very elderly group, 131.1 +/- 46.5 ng/ml in the elderly group, 135.1 +/- 102.1 ng/ml in patients aged between 50 and 69 years old and 92.8 +/- 21.8 ng/ml in patients aged between 20 and 49 years old. Type IV collagen 7s value were 4.4 +/- 0.9 ng/ml in the very elderly group, 4.4 +/- 0.6 ng/ml in the elderly group, 4.8 +/- 1.6 ng/ml in patients of between 50 and 69 years old, and 4.3 +/- 0.6 ng/ml in patients between 20 and 49 years old. P III P value were 0.70 +/- 0.31 U/ml in the very elderly group, 0.64 +/- 0.34 U/ml in the elderly group, 0.59 +/- 0.43 U/ml in patients aged between 50 and 69 years old, and 0.46 +/- 0.14 U/ml in patients aged between 20 and 49 years old. The results indicated that three markers: hyaluronates, type IV collagen, P III P increased with the aging. Especially, hyaluronates were remarkably increased. Next, we studied 159 patients (78 patients added to 81 patients who visited our hospital for health checkup), and investigated the fluctuation of hyaluronate values by the aging. The results showed a definite increase of hyaluronate values with age. A correlation was recognized between ages and hyaluronate values (correlation coefficient: r = 0.64, p < 0.001). Furthermore we investigated effect on aging of various items including fibrosis markers, immunoglobulin or serum albumin by using multiple factor analysis, and found that hyaluronates influenced most strongly on aging (p < 0.0002, p < 0.00002). Thus, hyaluronates could be considered to be an index other than actual ages to evaluate progress of aging.