Evaluation of the severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease through analysis of serum exosomal miRNA expression

PLoS One. 2021 Aug 6;16(8):e0255822. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0255822. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Noninvasive techniques for evaluating the severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have shown limited diagnostic performance. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are useful biomarkers for diagnosing and monitoring the progression and treatment response to several diseases. Here, we evaluated whether serum exosomal miRNAs could be used for the diagnosis and prognosis of NAFLD severity. Exosomal miRNAs were isolated from the sera of 41 patients with NAFLD (diagnosed using liver biopsy) for microarray profiling. The degree of NAFLD severity was determined using inflammation, steatosis, and ballooning scores and the NAFLD activity score (NAS). Correlations between miRNA expression, clinical and biochemical parameters, and mRNA expression were analyzed. Overall, 25, 11, 13, and 14 miRNAs correlated with the inflammation score, steatosis score, ballooning score, and NAS, respectively, with 33 significant correlations observed between 27 miRNAs and six clinical variables. Eight miRNAs (let-7b-5p, miR-378h, -1184, -3613-3p, -877-5p, -602, -133b, and 509-3p) showed anticorrelated patterns with the corresponding mRNA expression. In fibrosis, 52 and 30 interactions corresponding to high miRNA-low mRNA and low miRNA-high mRNA expression, respectively, were observed. The present results therefore suggest that serum exosomal miRNAs can be used to evaluate NAFLD severity and identify potential targets for NAFLD treatment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Biomarkers
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Humans
  • Male
  • MicroRNAs / genetics
  • Middle Aged
  • Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease*

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • MicroRNAs

Grants and funding

This study was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea grant from the Korean government (the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology 2019M3E5D1A01068997 and 2018R1A2B2006183). Research Supporting Program of the Korean Association for the Study of the Liver and the Korean Liver Foundation (KASLKLF2020-04).