title: Plasma free myristic acid proportion is a predictor of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Serum free fatty acid (FFA) composition and abnormal fatty acid metabolism have been implicated in the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Therefore, we determined if the serum FFA composition can provide accurate diagnosis of NASH.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared fasting serum FFA compositions in 20 patients with simple steatosis to those in 77 patients with NASH, including 65 patients with early-stage NASH.
  
  
  RESULTS
  By univariate analysis, the proportions of serum free myristic acid (P = 0.002) and palmitoleic acid (P = 0.033) and the stearoyl CoA desaturase (SCD)-1 index (P = 0.047) were significantly elevated in NASH patients in comparison to patients with simple steatosis. Only the serum free myristic acid proportion was significantly elevated in the early-stage NASH group in comparison to the simple steatosis group (P = 0.003). Multiple logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the serum free myristic acid proportion was significantly elevated in all patients with NASH (P = 0.011) and the subset of patients with early-stage NASH (P = 0.012) in comparison to those with simple steatosis. The area under the curve (AUC) for the serum free myristic acid proportion was 0.734 to detect NASH and 0.719 to detect early-stage NASH in comparison to simple steatosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum free myristic acid proportion could be a useful independent predictor to differentiate NASH from simple steatosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Kengo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Teratani
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Rie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Irie
authors.forename: Hirotoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ebinuma
authors.forename: Hidetsugu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hokari
authors.forename: Soichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.forename: Toshifumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hibi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified / Q000097:blood; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019814:Myristic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified; D019814:Myristic Acid