Author information
1
Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, United States of America.
2
Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America.
3
Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
4
Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, United States of America.
5
Division of Gastroenterology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States of America.
6a
Division of Gastroenterology, Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System and University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
7
Department of Medicine, Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America.
Abstract
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common form of liver disease and ranges from isolated steatosis to NASH. To determine whether circulating fatty acids could serve as diagnostic markers of NAFLDseverity and whether specific fatty acids could contribute to the pathogenesis of NASH, we analyzed two independent NAFLD patient cohorts and used the methionine- and choline-deficient diet (MCD) NASH mouse model. We identified six fatty acids that could serve as non-invasive markers of NASH in patients with NAFLD. Serum levels of 15:0, 17:0 and 16:1n7t negatively correlated with NAFLD activity scores and hepatocyte ballooning scores, while 18:1n7c serum levels strongly correlated with fibrosis stage and liver inflammation. Serum levels of 15:0 and 17:0 also negatively correlated with fasting glucose and AST, while 16:1n7c and 18:1n7c levels positively correlated with AST and ferritin, respectively. Inclusion of demographic and clinical parameters improved the performance of the fatty acid panels in detecting NASH in NAFLD patients. The panel [15:0, 16:1n7t, 18:1n7c, 22:5n3, age, ferritin and APRI] predicted intermediate or advanced fibrosis in NAFLDpatients, with 82% sensitivity at 90% specificity [AUROC = 0.92]. 15:0 and 18:1n7c were further selected for functional studies in vivo. Mice treated with 15:0-supplemented MCD diet showed reduced AST levels and hepatic infiltration of ceroid-laden macrophages compared to MCD-treated mice, suggesting that 15:0 deficiency contributes to liver injury in NASH. In contrast, 18:1n7c-supplemented MCD diet didn't affect liver pathology. In conclusion, 15:0 may serve as a promising biomarker or therapeutic target in NASH, opening avenues for the integration of diagnosis and treatment.