Use of Plasma Metabolomics and Lipidomics for the Diagnosis of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Type 2 Diabetes

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects a significant number of patients with T2DM and places them at an increased risk of steatohepatitis (NASH) and cirrhosis. However, it is widely underdiagnosed due to lack of a simple, non-invasive test for its diagnosis. The aim of this study was to establish a plasma biomarker profile to identify NAFLD and NASH in patients with T2DM. We recruited 220 patients with T2DM (59±8 years; BMI: 33.6±4.8 kg/m2; A1c: 7.1±1.2%) and screened them for NAFLD by liver magnetic resonance spectroscopy (No NAFLD: n=76; NAFLD: n=144). If positive, a liver biopsy was performed (Isolated steatosis: n=73; NASH: n=71). All patients underwent untargeted plasma metabolomics and lipidomics. To account for multiple comparisons, a Bonferroni’s adjusted p-value