The invasive nature of liver biopsy makes the histopathological diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) difficult and its diagnostic performance unsatisfactory.  A recent study, headed by researchers from The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, aimed to identify a serum microRNA (miRNA) expression profile that could serve as a novel diagnostic biomarker for NAFLD. 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 using LC Sciences’ miRNA sequencing service, 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). With these tools, researchers identified a 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. Their data indicates a 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%). In conclusion, researchers identified a serum microRNA panel with considerable clinical value in NAFLD diagnosis. Their results indicate that the miRNA panel is a more sensitive and specific biomarker for NAFLD than ALT and FIB-4.

Sequenced reads and distribution of reads

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miRNA Sequencing Services – High-throughput sequencing is now available in addition to existing microarray and qRT-PCR profiling services for the most complete picture of miRNA expression in your samples. miRNA sequencing is a new method and a powerful tool to identify and quantitatively decode the entire population of miRNAs in your sample. [Learn more…]

Reference

Tan Y, Ge G, Pan T, Wen D, Gan J A Pilot Study of Serum MicroRNAs Panel as Potential Biomarkers for Diagnosis of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (2014)  PLoS ONE 9(8): e105192. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0105192 [article]