Role of circulating vascular cell adhesion protein–1 as a biomarker in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract

Background: As a result of the obesity pandemic, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. NAFLD is the hepatic manifestation of obesity and a precursor of and independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
Objective: The aim of the current work was to assess the level of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) as non-invasive diagnostic tools for diagnosis of NAFLD degree of fibrosis.
Patients and Methods: This Case-Control clinical study included a total of 60 subjects, 30 patients with fatty liver disease, FLD (Group A) and 30 healthy subjects as a control (group B), attending at Internal Medicine and Hepatology Outpatient Clinic, Ain Shams University Hospitals. Group A was further subdivided into NAFLD subgroup (15 patients) and non- alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) subgroup (15 patients)
Results: In the present study, the mean VCAM-1 was 2.392± 0.3 in NAFLD group, 9.893± 2.3 in NASH group and 1.983 ± 0.3 in control group with high statistically significant increase in NASH followed by NAFLD than in control group. Regarding to ROC curve, VCAM-1 had excellent Diagnostic performance with an AUC of 0.994. A best cut-off criterion of VCAM-1 > 7.7 ng/mL could discriminate between patients with NASH from control group with a sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 100% In our study, there was no significant correlation in between VCAM-1 and age, AST, ALT. In the present study, the significant predictors of bad outcome in patients with NAFLD and NASH were higher VCAM-1, GGT and AST levels.
Conclusion: It could be concluded that the significant predictors of bad outcome in patients with NAFLD and NASH were higher VCAM-1 level, GGT and higher AST levels