Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity (Jun 2022)
Pro-Neurotensin as a Potential Novel Diagnostic Biomarker for Detection of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Abstract
Amal A Mohamed,1 Dina M Abo-Elmatty,2 Omnia Ezzat,3 Noha M Mesbah,2 Nada S Ali,3 Aliaa Sayed Abd El Fatah,4 Eman Alsayed,5 Mahmoud Hamada,6 Alshymaa A Hassnine,7 Sherief Abd-Elsalam,8 Ahmed Abdelghani,9 Mohamed Badr Hassan,9 Shaimaa A Fattah2 1Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt; 2Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt; 3Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Egyptian Russian University, Cairo, Egypt; 4Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Minia, Egypt; 5Department of Clinical Pathology, Minia University Hospital, Minia, Egypt; 6Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Benha, Egypt; 7Department of Gastroenterology and Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Minia, Egypt; 8Tropical Medicine Department, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt; 9Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, EgyptCorrespondence: Sherief Abd-Elsalam, Department of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, El-Bahr Street, Tanta, Egypt, Tel +201147773440, Email [email protected] and Aims: Currently, liver biopsy is the gold standard method for diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver severity. It is critical to develop non-invasive diagnostic method to diagnose nonalcoholic fatty liver rather than invasive techniques. Our case–control study was to address the value of circulating miRNA-122 and serum pro-neurotensin as a potential non-invasive biomarker for the diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty acid diseases.Methods: Clinical assessment, laboratory investigations, and anthropometric measurements were reported for 157 patients with proven NAFLD. Apparently, healthy participants (n=100) were enrolled as a control group. Serum samples were tested for micro-RNAs− 122 and pro-neurotensin.Results: Compared with the control subjects, both mi-RNA-122 and serum proneurotensin levels were increased in NAFLD (p< 0.001) and at a cut-off ≥ 6.83, mi-RNA-122 had 51.0% sensitivity, 70.0% specificity to differentiate NAFLD from healthy controls, while serum proneurotensin had 80.0% sensitivity and 80.0% specificity at a cutoff ≥ 108.Conclusion: The circulating pro-neurotensin might be used as a novel biomarker for diagnosis of patients with NAFLD, wherefore the integration of a circulating mi-RNA-122 and serum pro-neurotensin could be beneficial to diagnose NAFLD cases. Large-scale studies are needed to investigate the possible role of mi-RNA-122 and pro-neurotensin in the development, progression, and prognosis of NAFLD and NASH.Keywords: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, NAFLD, metabolic associated fatty liver disease, MAFLD, biomarker, proneurotensin, micro-RNA-122, noninvasive, diagnosis, fatty liver
