Diagnosis of Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

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Category Name: Hepatology

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease worldwide and can progress to liver cirrhosis, liver failure or cancer. Currently, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) diagnosis requires an invasive liver biopsy which can lead to procedural complications. Now, researchers at Osaka University working with international collaborators have identified a non-invasive biomarker that can identify patients at risk of NAFLD complications using a simple blood test.

Owing to the increasing prevalence of obesity worldwide, as many as one in four humans has NAFLD. Unrelated to alcohol intake by definition, the early stage - NAFL (nonalcoholic fatty liver) - is asymptomatic. Unfortunately, progression to NASH incurs inflammatory damage and eventually liver fibrosis occurs; this may further lead to adverse outcomes. Liver deterioration can be deferred by lifestyle modifications comprising diet and exercise; therefore, early diagnosis is key.

Diagnostic confirmation requires a needle biopsy; however, the disadvantages include expense and variability in sampling and interpretation. The research team investigated whether they could devise a diagnostic screen using transcriptomics, the emerging science of analyzing the 'transcriptome,' the entire array of an organism's messenger RNA molecules derived from expression of the genome.

The researchers established that THBS2 expression in liver cells paralleled the clinical indicators conventionally used to categorize the pathological changes including serum enzyme levels, NAFLD Activity Score and NAFLD Fibrosis Score. "Serum levels of TSP-2 in NAFLD patients were significantly higher in NASH than in NAFL," co-first author Takahiro Kodama claims, "and, interestingly, the increase tallied with the degree of fibrosis."

"Both hepatic THBS2 gene expression in the liver and serum protein levels of TSP-2 can diagnose cases of NASH and/or advanced fibrosis. A simple and convenient blood test can provide a clinically useful early warning system for complications of NAFLD and inform lifestyle modifications or other interventions that may alter the course of the disease and improve the prognosis."

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Sophia Rubens
Journal of Hepatology and Gastrointestinal Disorders