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Lipocalin-2 levels increase in plasma of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients with metabolic syndrome

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International Journal of Diabetes in Developing Countries Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has emerged as major health risk in metabolic syndrome. The liver biopsy is the golden standard for the diagnosis and differentiation of all NAFLD stages, but its invasiveness poses a risk for patients, which is why new, non-invasive ways of diagnostics ought to be discovered. Lipocalin-2 (LCN2), which is a part of the lipocalin transport protein family, is a protein formally known for its role in iron transport and in inflammatory response. In the present study, we evaluated the levels of LCN2 a marker of liver inflammation and injury in the blood of patients with ultrasonography proven NAFLD.

Materials and methods

A total of 94 (24 control and 70 cases with different grade of NAFLD) aged and sex matched patients participated in the single-centre, open, hospital-based case control cross-sectional study. All anthropometric, biochemical and hematological assessment was done after proper consent. The metabolic syndrome was determined by new IDF criteria. Plasma LCN2 levels were measured by ELISA method.

Results

The LCN2 levels were increased in patients with NAFLD (170.38±114.43 ng/ml) as compared to healthy volunteers (40.46±6.44 ng/ml) (p<0.001). The LCN2 levels increase as the level of steatosis increases from grade I (143.99±90.04), grade II (205.78±143.07) to grade III (219.49±146.30) of fatty liver even though there was no difference in BMI showing it is specific to liver injury than obesity. The ROC curve analysis predicted sensitivity of 96.9% and predicted specificity of 91.7%. These changes were detected before derangement in liver enzymes.

Conclusion

The plasma lipocalin levels increase in NAFLD with metabolic syndrome and it can be considered a good blood biomarker. The early detection in NAFLD cases may improve prognosis.

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Data availability

Data will be available upon request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support of Director CDRI and V.C, KGMU, Lucknow, for providing support for study. We are thankful to ICMR New Delhi for providing fellowship to Shobhit Raj Vimal and Banwari Dangi under scheme of product development centre (PDC). CDRI communication no. 10372.

Funding

This study was supported by CSIR-CDRI and KGMU, Lucknow.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Hirdesh Chawla and Vivek Bhosale contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, King George Medical University, Lucknow, UP, India

    Hirdesh Chawla, Ravi Misra & Satyendra Kumar Sonkar

  2. Division of Toxicology and Experiment Medicine, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, UP, 226031, India

    Vivek Bhosale, Shobhit Raj Vimal, Banwari Dangi, Kavita Durgapal, Shail Singh & Mahendra Pal Singh Negi

  3. Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Anusandhan Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi, India

    Vivek Bhosale

  4. Department of Radiodiagnosis, King George Medical University, Lucknow, UP, India

    Neera Kohli & Naseem Jamal

  5. Division of Clinical and Experiment Medicine, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, UP, India

    Ashim Ghatak

Authors
  1. Hirdesh Chawla
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Contributions

Vivek Bhosale, Hirdesh Chawla—concept, design, literature search, data collection and analysis, clinical studies, experimental studies, manuscript writing

Ravi Misra, Satyendra Kumar Sonkar, Ashim Ghatak—concept, design, manuscript review

Mahendra Pal Singh Negi, Kavita Durgapal, Shail Singh, Shobhit Vimal, Banwari Dangi—bioanalysis, data analysis

Neera Kohli, Naseem Jamal—radiodiagnosis, ultrasonography data acquisition

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vivek Bhosale.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical clearance was obtained from the institutional review board (IRB) of the King George Medical University, Lucknow, India. Purpose and significance of the study were explained, and informed consent was taken from each study participant. Respondent’s confidentiality was ensured during the study period.

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Not applicable.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Chawla, H., Bhosale, V., Misra, R. et al. Lipocalin-2 levels increase in plasma of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients with metabolic syndrome. Int J Diabetes Dev Ctries 43, 105–112 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-022-01058-3

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