简介：Fibrosis is a frequent, life-threatening complication of most chronic liver diseases. Up to now liver biopsy is still the gold standard for assessment of hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis. However, it is invasive with possible complications, costly and afflicted with a high degree of sampling error. There is a strong demand for reliable, liver specific, non-invasive biomarkers of fibrosis and cirrhosis to replace or to complement the invasivemethod of needle biopsy.