Liver injury and function - biomarkers

Q: Which are the three biomarkers of liver injury, and three biomarkers of liver function?

Answer: There are three biomarkers each for liver injury and hepatocellular function.

Liver injury

• alanine aminotransferase (ALT)
• aspartate aminotransferase (AST)
• alkaline phosphatase (AP)

Hepatocellular function

• albumin
• bilirubin
• prothrombin time (PT-INR)

Bilirubin may also be counted as a manifestation of liver injury, but it it represents more of overall hepatic function.

#hepatology

References:

1. Lee TH, Kim WR, Poterucha JJ. Evaluation of elevated liver enzymes. Clin Liver Dis. 2012 May;16(2):183-98. doi: 10.1016/j.cld.2012.03.006. PMID: 22541694; PMCID: PMC7110573.

2. Gowda S, Desai PB, Hull VV, Math AA, Vernekar SN, Kulkarni SS. A review on laboratory liver function tests. Pan Afr Med J. 2009 Nov 22;3:17. PMID: 21532726; PMCID: PMC2984286.