Yuji Hattori, Hiroya Yamada, Eiji Munetsuna, Ryosuke Fujii, Yoshitaka Ando, Mirai Yamazaki, Genki Mizuno, Yoshiki Tsuboi, Yuya Ishihara, Naohiro Ichino, Keiko Sugimoto, Keisuke Osakabe, Hiroaki Ishikawa, Koji Ohashi, Koji Suzuki
Background: The increasing prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become a global health problem. NAFLD has few initial symptoms and may be difficult to detect early, so there is need for a minimally invasive early detection marker. We hypothesized that miR-122 and miR-20a levels combined, as the miR-122/miR-20a ratio might detect NAFLD more sensitively. Methods: This study involved 167 participants with low alcohol intake. Those who had an increase in echogenicity of the liver parenchyma and hepato-renal contrast on ultrasonography were classified as the NAFLD group ( n = 44), which was further classified into mild ( n = 26) and severe ( n = 18) groups based on echogenic intensity and hepatic vessel and diaphragm visualization...
August 2023: Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers