Patent ID: 7335512

Claim:
A method of detecting liver damage that is accompanied by formation of regenerative liver nodules in a mammal, said method comprising: obtaining a sample of serum or blood plasma from the mammal, said sample containing a pool of the total serum or blood N-linked glycoproteins; generating a first N-linked carbohydrate profile, wherein said first N-linked carbohydrate profile represents the diversity and concentration of carbohydrate moieties present in the pool of total serum or blood N-linked glycoproteins; quantifying, in the first N-linked carbohydrate profile, an amount of at least one N-linked carbohydrate moiety; comparing the quantified amount of said at least one N-linked carbohydrate moiety with a quantified amount of said same at least one N-linked carbohydrate moiety in other N-linked carbohydrate profiles representing the diversity and concentration of carbohydrate moieties of a pool of total serum or blood N-linked glycoproteins derived from serum or plasma samples from mammals not suffering from liver damage; and attributing differences between the quantified amount of said at least one N-linked carbohydrate moiety and the quantified amount of said same at least one N-linked carbohydrate moiety in other N-linked carbohydrate profiles liver damage that is accompanied by formation of regenerative liver nodules.