NAFLD mark: an accurate model based on microRNA-34 for diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients

Amal A Mohamed; Ahmed El-Demery; Eman Al-Hussain; Shroouk Mousa; Ahmed Abdel Halim; Sahar M Mostafa; Reda S Abdelghany; Seham M Mahmoud; Mohammad A Elkady; Khaled Raafat; Alshymaa A Hassnine; Mohamed M Omran

doi:10.1186/s43141-021-00257-5

NAFLD mark: an accurate model based on microRNA-34 for diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients

J Genet Eng Biotechnol. 2021 Oct 18;19(1):157. doi: 10.1186/s43141-021-00257-5.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Biochemistry Department, National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt.
² Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Medicine, October 6 University, 6th of October City, Egypt.
³ Clinical and Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo university, Giza, Egypt.
⁴ Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
⁵ Tropical Department, National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt.
⁶ Tropical Medicine Department, Ahmed Maher Teaching Hospital, Cairo, Egypt.
⁷ Tropical Department, El-Sahel Teaching Hospital, Cairo, Egypt.
⁸ Theodor Bilharz Research Institute Gastroenterology and Hepatology department, Cairo, Egypt.
⁹ Gastroenterology and Hepatology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
¹⁰ Department of Gastroenterology and Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Minia, Egypt.
¹¹ Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Ain Helwan, Cairo, 11795, Egypt. drmmomran@science.helwan.edu.eg.

Abstract

Background: It remains essential for non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD) patients, to develop a sensitive and specific diagnostic model. Data regarding the use of micro (mi)RNA-34 for NAFLD diagnosis are few. Routine clinical assessment, laboratory tests were done for Egyptian individuals (n = 314) were included (100 healthy individuals and 214 NAFLD patients). Quantification of miRNA-34 was done using real-time PCR. Extremely significant variables were entered into stepwise logistic regression. The diagnostic power of variables was estimated by the area under the ROC (AUC).

Results: MiRNA-34 levels were higher in NAFLD patients than healthy individuals with a significant difference (P< 0.0001). The multivariate analysis was used to evaluate the NAFLD-associated variables (CRP, cholesterol, body mass index (BMI), ALT had p< 0.0001 while mRNA-34 had (p=0.0004). The AUCs (CI) of candidate NAFLD markers were in the order of miRNA-34 0.72 (0.66-0.77) < ALT 0.73 (0.67-0.79) < BMI 0.81 (0.76-0.86) < cholesterol < 0.85 (0.79-0.90) < CRP 0.88 (0.84-0.92). We developed a novel index for discriminating patients with NAFLD named NAFLD Mark. AUC was jumped to 0.98 (0.93-0.99) when five markers were combined. The AUC of NAFLD mark for NAFLD detection was higher than the AUCs of seven common NAFLD indexes (0.44-0.86).

Conclusions: The NAFLD mark is a non-invasive and highly sensitive and specific model for NAFLD diagnosis.

Keywords: Alanine aminotransferase; Body mass index; C-reactive protein; Cholesterol; MicroRNA-34; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.