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Albumin binding function is a novel biomarker for early liver damage and disease progression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

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Abstract

Purpose

Indicators to assess early liver damage and disease progression in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remain unsatisfactory. Albumin binding function has been reported to be an early indicator of liver damage in hepatitis and liver cirrhosis. However, its role in NAFLD patients is unknown.

Methods

An age/sex-matched, case-control study was performed. Albumin-binding capacity (ABiC) and albumin metal ion binding ability, assessed by ischemia modified albumin (IMA), were measured. Correlation analysis was performed to assess the association of albumin binding function with liver function enzymes and noninvasive liver fibrosis markers.

Results

A total of 80 NAFLD patients and 41 healthy controls were included. Albumin binding function was significantly lower in NAFLD (ABiC: 196.00%, p < 0.001; IMA transformed (IMAT): 0.461, p < 0.001; and IMAT/albumin: 0.947 × 10−2, p < 0.001) than controls (ABiC: 211.00%; IMAT: 0.575; and IMAT/albumin: 1.206 × 10−2). Albumin binding function was also found to be significantly different among healthy participants and different severity groups of NAFLD (p < 0.001). Besides, albumin binding function showed positive correlation with BMI (ABiC: r = −0.247, p = 0.011; IMAT: r = −0.243, p = 0.013; IMAT/albumin: r = −0.254, p = 0.009) and FIB-4 index (ABiC: r = 0.230, p = 0.029). The ROC curve suggested that albumin binding function combined with BMI and triglyceride may predict the presence of NAFLD (area under ROC (AUROC) = 0.935, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Our findings suggest albumin binding function is a novel biomarker for early liver damage and disease progression in NAFLD.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the help of other teammates.

Author contributions

Y.M. and J.Z. proposed the study. L.S. and M.L. wrote the first manuscript. M.L. and H.Y. conducted the experiments. Q.W. and G.X. collected the data and performed the analysis. D.W., F.X. and B.J. made charts and illustrations. Y.J. helped with the methodology. H.Y., J.Z. and Y.M. revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to the design and interpretation of the study and to further drafts.

Funding

This work was funded by grants from CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (CIFMS) (No.2016-I2M-1-001) and Tsinghua University-Peking Union Medical College Hospital Cooperation Project (PTQH201904552).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Lejia Sun, Qing Wang, Meixi Liu, Gang Xu

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Liver Surgery, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) Hospital, PUMC & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, 100730, Beijing, China

    Lejia Sun, Gang Xu, Feihu Xie, Bao Jin, Yukai Jin, Huayu Yang & Yilei Mao

  2. Department of Medical Examination Center, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, 050051, China

    Qing Wang

  3. Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) Hospital, PUMC & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, 100730, Beijing, China

    Meixi Liu, Huanhuan Yin & Dongyue Wang

  4. Department of Infectious Disease, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, 050051, China

    Junying Zhou

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  1. Lejia Sun
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Correspondence to Junying Zhou or Yilei Mao.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

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Sun, L., Wang, Q., Liu, M. et al. Albumin binding function is a novel biomarker for early liver damage and disease progression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Endocrine 69, 294–302 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-020-02319-z

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