Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, China.
J Hepatol. 2012 Jan;56(1):241-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2011.05.027. Epub 2011 Jul 12.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common chronic liver diseases worldwide. The two linked studies presented herein aimed to identify and verify new biomarkers for NAFLD.
First, 70 serum samples were analyzed using proteomics approaches to identify potential biomarkers for NAFLD. Second, a total of 6944 initial NAFLD-free subjects were followed up for 3 years to evaluate the predictive value of hemoglobin for NAFLD.
In the first study, 20 differentially expressed protein peaks (11 up-regulated and nine down-regulated) were observed in NAFLD patients upon comparison to the controls. With the aid of bioinformatic tools, we established a biomarker pattern for NAFLD with a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 83%. Further analysis suggested a protein peak to be hemoglobin subunit alpha. In the second study, prospective analysis showed that subjects with higher baseline hemoglobin levels were associated with higher incidence of NAFLD. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses showed that the age, gender, and body mass index adjusted hazard ratio (95% CI) for subjects with baseline hemoglobin level in quintile 2, 3, 4, and 5 vs. quintile 1 was 1.36 (1.02-1.81), 1.66 (1.23-2.25), 1.76 (1.28-2.41), and 1.83 (1.33-2.53), respectively.
Our study showed that serum hemoglobin may have significant predictive value for NAFLD.
非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）是全球最常见的慢性肝病之一。本研究旨在鉴定和验证用于诊断 NAFLD 的新型生物标志物。
首先，采用蛋白质组学方法分析了 70 份血清样本，以鉴定用于诊断 NAFLD 的潜在生物标志物。其次，对 6944 名初始无 NAFLD 的受试者进行了 3 年的随访，以评估血红蛋白对 NAFLD 的预测价值。
在第一项研究中，与对照组相比，NAFLD 患者血清中观察到 20 个差异表达的蛋白峰（11 个上调，9 个下调）。借助生物信息学工具，我们建立了一个具有 89%敏感性和 83%特异性的 NAFLD 生物标志物模型。进一步分析表明，血红蛋白亚基α是一个蛋白峰。在第二项研究中，前瞻性分析显示，基线血红蛋白水平较高的受试者发生 NAFLD 的几率更高。Cox 比例风险回归分析显示，血红蛋白基线水平处于五分位 2、3、4 和 5 组与五分位 1 组相比，年龄、性别和体重指数校正后的危险比（95%CI）分别为 1.36（1.02-1.81）、1.66（1.23-2.25）、1.76（1.28-2.41）和 1.83（1.33-2.53）。
本研究表明，血清血红蛋白对 NAFLD 具有显著的预测价值。
