ArticlePloS one2021
Assessment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) severity with novel serum-based markers: A pilot study.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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13 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- MMP-9 and non-invasive markers in evaluating MASLD and atherosclerosis.Journal, genetic engineering & biotechnology · 2026Article
- Mechanistic insights into the lipotropic and atheroprotective effects of rosuvastatin-loaded glycerosomes in dyslipidemic rats.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The Intriguing Roles of Cytokines in Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease: A Narrative Review.Current obesity reports · 2025Review
- Multiple machine learning algorithms identify 13 types of cell death-critical genes in large and multiple non-alcoholic steatohepatitis cohorts.Lipids in health and disease · 2025Article
- Identification of pyroptosis-associated gene to predict fibrosis and reveal immune characterization in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Transcriptomics reveal a molecular signature in the progression of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and identifies PAI‑1 and MMP‑9 as biomarkers inMolecular medicine reports · 2024Article
- Pro-Inflammatory Adipokine and Cytokine Profiles in the Saliva of Obese Patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)-A Pilot Study.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Article
- Fatty acid-binding protein-4 (FABP4) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9) as predictive values for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).Lipids in health and disease · 2023Article
- Prevalence and Specific Manifestations of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 Association in a Moroccan Population: A Cross-sectional Study.The review of diabetic studies : RDS · 2022Article
- Key Genes Associated With Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2022Article
- The molecular basis of the associations between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and colorectal cancer.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
aimsNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) represents a significant public health issue. Identifying patients with simple steatosis from those with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is crucial since NASH is correlated with increased morbidity and mortality. Serum-based markers, including adipokines and cytokines, are important in the pathogenesis and progression of NAFLD. Here we assessed the usefulness of such markers in patients with NAFLD.
methodsThis prospective, cross-sectional study included 105 adult patients with varying severity of NAFLD. Twelve serum-based markers were measured by 3 biochip platforms and 2 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods. We also developed a NAFLD individual fibrosis index (NIFI) using the serum-based markers mostly correlated with fibrosis severity.
resultsSixty-one out of 105 patients were male (58.1%) with mean age was 53.5 years. Higher Interleukin-6 (IL-6) increased (p = 0.0321) and lower Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) serum levels (p = 0.0031) were associated with higher fibrosis as measured by Fibroscan® in multivariable regression analysis. Using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis for the NIFI, area under the curve for predicting Fibroscan values ≥ 7.2 kPa was 0.77 (95%CI: 0.67, 0.88, p<0.001), with sensitivity of 89.3%, specificity of 57.9% and a positive likelihood ratio of 2.8.
conclusionsIncreasing fibrosis severity in NAFLD is associated with differential expression of IL-6 and MMP-9. NIFI could be valuable for the prediction of advanced NAFLD fibrosis and potentially help avoid unnecessary interventions such as liver biopsy in low-risk patients.
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