AUTHOR=Stoica Victor Constantin , Apostol Dimitri , Diculescu Mihai Mircea , Gârdan Iuliana Petronela , Gârdan Daniel Adrian , Mărunțelu Ion , Constantinescu Ileana 

TITLE=Time for micro-RNAs in steatotic liver disease: a case–control study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Endocrinology

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2024.1349524

DOI=10.3389/fendo.2024.1349524

ISSN=1664-2392

ABSTRACT=One of the challenges of modern day living is to resist to the temptation of overfeeding and sedentariness and maintain a healthy body and mind. On a favorable genetic and epigenetic background, a high fat diet combined with lack of physical exercise constitutes the foundation for severe metabolic disturbances including steatotic liver disease. In our case-control study, we had the aim of establish the role of selected micro-RNAs: miR-122, miR-192, miR-33a and miR-33b as superior biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of steatotic liver in a 36 patients cohort compared to 12 healthy controls. Initial results confirmed the decline in miR-122 expression as fatty liver is progressing. But combinations of ΔmiR's such as ΔmiR33a_192 and ΔmiR33a_122, ΔmiR33b_122 correlate with ultrasound steatosis grade (R 2 = 0.78) while others as ΔmiR33b_122 provide a high specificity and sensitivity in fatty liver disease with an AUC of 0.85. Compared to classical biomarkers, micro-RNAs can be used both for diagnostic and prognostic purposes as their diminished expression in severe cases of steatosis is associated with higher risk of emerging hepatocellular carcinoma. Manipulating micro-RNAs through agomirs or antagomirs can be the answer to the yet unsolved problem of efficient therapy in MAFLD.