Combination of biomarkers for the detection and evaluation of hepatitis fibrosis

An in vitro method for determining the hepatic fibrosis score of a subject infected with one or more hepatitis viruses, characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

• i) in a sample which has been obtained from said subject, measuring the levels to which the selected genes are translated, said selected genes the levels of translation of which are measured being the following combination of genes:
• SPP1, A2M, IL8, CXCL10 and S100A4;
• and
• ii) comparing the measurement values of each of said selected genes obtained for said subject with their values, or with the distribution of their values, in reference cohorts which have been pre-established as a function of their hepatic fibrosis score, in order to classify said subject into that of those reference cohorts to which it has the highest probability of belonging,
• wherein the comparison in step ii) is made by combining said measurement values obtained in step i) into the linear Z function which is indicated for said combination of genes as:
• Z=0.241×A2Mt+0.137×CXCL10t+0.001×IL8t+0.062×SPP1t+0.226×S100A4t,
• and, optionally, by comparison of the output value obtained thereby with the threshold δ of 2.905;
• and wherein the classification of said subject into that of said reference cohorts to which it has the highest probability of belonging is made with:
• a sensitivity (Se) of at least 67%;
• and/or with
• a specificity (Sp) of at least 67%;
• and/or with
• a negative predictive value (NPV) of at least 81%;
• and/or with
• a positive predictive value (PPV) of at least 50%.