title: A pilot study of serum microRNAs panel as potential biomarkers for diagnosis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The invasive nature of liver biopsy makes the histopathological diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) difficult and its diagnostic performance unsatisfactory. The present study aimed to identify a serum microRNA (miRNA) expression profile that could serve as a novel diagnostic biomarker for NAFLD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum miRNA expression was investigated using three cohorts comprising 465 participants (healthy controls and NAFLD patients) recruited between August 2010 and June 2013. miRNA expression was initially screened by Illumina sequencing using serum samples pooled from 20 patients and 20 controls. Quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay was then used to evaluate the expression of selected miRNAs. A logistic regression model was constructed using a training cohort (n = 242) and validated using another cohort (n = 183). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to evaluate diagnostic accuracy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified an miRNA panel (hsa-miR-122-5p, hsa-miR-1290, hsa-miR-27b-3p, and hsa-miR-192-5p) with a high diagnostic accuracy for NAFLD. The satisfactory diagnostic performance of the miRNA panel remained regardless of the NAFLD activity score (NAS) status. There was significant difference between the AUC values of the miRNA panel and those of ALT (AUC = 0.786, 95% CI = 0.717-0.855; P = 0.142) and FIB-4 (AUC = 0.795, 95% CI = 0.730-0.860; sensitivity = 69.9%, specificity = 83.7%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We identified a serum microRNA panel with considerable clinical value in NAFLD diagnosis. The results indicate that the miRNA panel is a more sensitive and specific biomarker for NAFLD than ALT and FIB-4.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China; Department of Hepatosis, The Third Hospital of Zhenjiang Affiliated Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
authors.forename: Youwen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatosis, The Third Hospital of Zhenjiang Affiliated Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
authors.forename: Guohong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatosis, The Third Hospital of Zhenjiang Affiliated Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
authors.forename: Tengli
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatosis, The Third Hospital of Zhenjiang Affiliated Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
authors.forename: Danfeng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jianhe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood*; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D035683:MicroRNAs