Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity (Dec 2019)
The Circulating Micro-RNAs (−122, −34a and −99a) as Predictive Biomarkers for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Diseases
Abstract
Olfat M Hendy,1 Hatem Rabie,1 Amr El Fouly,2 Mohamed Abdel-Samiee,3 Nashwa Abdelmotelb,1 Amr Aly Elshormilisy,4 Mahmoud Allam,3 Samia Taher Ali,5 Nessren Mohamed Bahaa EL-Deen,6 Shimaa Abdelsattar,7 Somia Mokabel Mohamed8 1Clinical Pathology Department, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt; 2Endemic Medicine Department, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt; 3Hepatology and Gastroenterology Department, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt; 4Internal Medicine Department, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt; 5Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt; 6Tropical Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt; 7Department of Clinical Biochemistry, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt; 8Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, EgyptCorrespondence: Mohamed Abdel-SamieeNational Liver Institute, Yassin Abdel-Ghafar Street, Shebin El-Kom, Menoufia 32511, EgyptTel +2048 2222740Fax +2048 2234685Email [email protected]: It remains essential for patient safety to develop non-invasive diagnostic tools to diagnose non-alcoholic fatty liver rather than invasive techniques.Aim: Our case-control study was to address the value of circulating miRNAs as a potential non-invasive biomarker for the diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty acid diseases (NAFLD) and monitoring of disease progression.Methods: Routine clinical assessment, laboratory tests, anthropometric study, and liver biopsy results reported for 210 patients with NAFLD (124 patients of simple steatosis (SS) and 86 of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)). Apparently matched for age and gender, healthy participants (n= 90) were enrolled as a control group. Serum samples were tested for micro-RNAs (−122, −34a and −99a) by quantitative-PCR.Results: By histopathology, 124 of the NAFLD group were of SS and 86 patients were of NASH. Compared with the control subjects, both mi-RNA-122 and −34a levels were increased in NAFLD (p< 001) and at a cut-off = 1.261, mi-RNA-122 had 92% sensitivity, 85% specificity to differentiate NAFLD from healthy controls, while mi-RNA-99a were significantly decreased in NAFLD patients with an observed decrease in disease severity, and at a cut-off = 0.46, miRNA-99a had 94% sensitivity and 96% specificity to discriminate SS from NASH.Conclusion: The integration of a circulating mi-RNA panel to diagnose NAFLD cases and to discriminate between SS and NASH. Large-scale study is still needed to verify the other mi-RNA profiles and their role in NAFLD pathogenesis and targeting therapy.Keywords: NASH, NAFLD, micro-RNA, simple steatosis
