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Chu X, Karasinski K, Donellan S, Kaniper S, Wood GC, Shi W, Edwards MA, Soans R, Still CD, Gerhard GS. A retrospective case control study identifies peripheral blood mononuclear cell albumin RNA expression as a biomarker for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Langenbecks Arch Surg 2019; 405:165-172. [PMID: 31828503 DOI: 10.1007/s00423-019-01848-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2019] [Accepted: 11/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) improves after bariatric surgery. The aim of this study was to determine whether peripheral blood mononuclear cell albumin gene expression was related to NAFLD and whether albumin (ALB) and alpha fetoprotein (AFP) expression could be detected in whole blood and visceral adipose tissue. METHODS Using a retrospective case control study design, RNA isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients prior to undergoing bariatric surgery was used for pooled microarray analysis. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) was used to analyze whole blood and visceral adipose tissue. Liver histology was obtained via intra-operative biopsy and clinical data extracted from the electronic health record. RESULTS The albumin (ALB) gene was the second most up-regulated found in microarray analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cell RNA from patients with hepatic lobular inflammation versus normal liver histology. Transcript levels of ALB were significantly different across those with normal (n = 50), steatosis (n = 50), lobular inflammation (n = 50), and peri-sinusoidal fibrosis (n = 50) liver histologies, with lobular inflammation 3.9 times higher than those with normal histology (p < 0.017). Albumin expression levels decreased in 11/13 patients in paired samples obtained prior to and at 1 year after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. ALB expression could be detected in 23 visceral adipose tissue samples obtained intra-operatively and in 18/19 available paired whole blood samples. No significant correlation was found between ALB expression in visceral adipose tissue and whole blood RNA samples. Alpha fetoprotein expression as a marker of early hepatocytic differentiation was detected in 17/17 available VAT RNA samples, but in only 2/17 whole blood RNA samples. CONCLUSION Albumin RNA expression from blood cells may serve as a biomarker of NAFLD. Albumin and alpha fetoprotein appear to be ubiquitously expressed in visceral adipose tissue in patients with extreme obesity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Chu
- Obesity Research Institute, Geisinger Clinic, Danville, PA, USA
| | - Kelsey Karasinski
- Department of Medical Genetics and Molecular Biochemistry, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA
| | - Sean Donellan
- Department of Medical Genetics and Molecular Biochemistry, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA
| | - Scott Kaniper
- Department of Medical Genetics and Molecular Biochemistry, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA
| | - G Craig Wood
- Obesity Research Institute, Geisinger Clinic, Danville, PA, USA
| | - Weixing Shi
- Obesity Research Institute, Geisinger Clinic, Danville, PA, USA
| | - Michael A Edwards
- Department of Surgery, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA
| | - Rohit Soans
- Department of Surgery, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA
| | | | - Glenn S Gerhard
- Department of Medical Genetics and Molecular Biochemistry, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA.
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