Association of the frequency of peripheral natural killer T cells with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether changes in the frequency of peripheral natural killer T (NKT) cells were correlated with liver disease in patients who had metabolic predispositions to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).


METHODS
Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 60 Chinese NAFLD patients and 60 age and gender matched healthy controls. The frequency of peripheral NKT cells was detected by flow cytometry. Clinical and laboratory data were collected for further analysis.


RESULTS
NAFLD patients had a lower frequency of peripheral NKT cells than healthy controls (1.21% +/- 0.06% vs 1.62% +/- 0.07%, P < 0.001). Further analysis revealed that the frequency of peripheral NKT cells was negatively correlated with body mass index, waist circumference and serum levels of alanine aminotransferase. Logistic regression analysis revealed that elevated body mass index [hazard ratio (HR): 2.991], aspartate aminotransferase levels (HR: 1.148) and fasting blood sugar (HR: 3.133) increased the risk of NAFLD, whereas an elevated frequency of peripheral NKT cells (HR: 0.107) decreased the risk.


CONCLUSIONS
Changes in the frequency of peripheral NKT cells were correlated with NAFLD and a decreased frequency of peripheral NKT cells was a risk factor for NAFLD.
Xu
Cheng-Fu
CF
Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
Yu
Chao-Hui
CH
Li
You-Ming
YM
Xu
Lei
L
Du
Juan
J
Shen
Zhe
Z
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic