Serum Anandamide for Assessment of Non Alcholic Fatty Liver Disease Severity

Abstract Background Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a very common disease, ranging from simple steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and is considered the hepatic expression of metabolic syndrome. Liver biopsy is currently considered the gold standard in diagnosis of NAFLD; however, it is an invasive technique and carries many risks. The serum anandamide level is recently discovered to play an important role as the potential indicator for NAFLD severity. The purpose of the study is to determine the association of endocannabinoid metabolite anandamide and NAFLD severity and to investigate its association with anthropometric and metabolic features in NAFLD patient. Aim of the Work To find a Correlation between serum anandamide and NAFLD severity. Patients and Methods A case–control study on 30 NAFLD biopsy-proven NAFLD patients and 30 healthy volunteers. This study was carried out at Outpatient Clinics of Gastroenterology department at Ain Shams Hospital from September 2021 till September 2022. They were subjected to full clinical history and examination, laboratory tests, abdominal ultrasound and serological testing of anadamide. Results The mean liver profile test in both groups were within the normal level except for the AST and ALT level in which in the patient group statistically significant (p = 0.01) in AST. On measuring the lipid profile between both groups there is statistically significant differences in the cholesterol and triglyceride level between both groups. The anadamide level was significantly higher among NAFLD groups vs. the normal group (P value 0.01) with cutoff > 0.215 in the NASH group (accuracy 88.3%; sensitivity 76.7% and specificity 100%). Serum anandamide has positive correlation with NAS score (r = 0.402). Our analysis identified AEA as a candidate biomarker for NASH. Obesity and diabetes are risk factors that contribute to the increasing prevalence of hepatic steatosis and NAFLD. Conclusion The serum anandamide level is more higher in patients with NAFLD than control group with statistically significant difference, we also found positive correlation between S. anandamide level and NAFLD activity score (NAS).