NAFLD mark: an accurate model based on microRNA-34 for diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients

Background It remains essential for non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD) patients, to develop a sensitive and specific diagnostic model. Data regarding the use of micro (mi)RNA-34 for NAFLD diagnosis are few. Routine clinical assessment, laboratory tests were done for Egyptian individuals ( n = 314) were included (100 healthy individuals and 214 NAFLD patients). Quantification of miRNA-34 was done using real-time PCR. Extremely significant variables were entered into stepwise logistic regression. The diagnostic power of variables was estimated by the area under the ROC (AUC). Results MiRNA-34 levels were higher in NAFLD patients than healthy individuals with a significant difference ( P < 0.0001). The multivariate analysis was used to evaluate the NAFLD-associated variables (CRP, cholesterol, body mass index (BMI), ALT had p < 0.0001 while mRNA-34 had ( p =0.0004). The AUCs (CI) of candidate NAFLD markers were in the order of miRNA-34 0.72 (0.66–0.77) < ALT 0.73 (0.67–0.79) < BMI 0.81 (0.76–0.86) < cholesterol < 0.85 (0.79–0.90) < CRP 0.88 (0.84–0.92). We developed a novel index for discriminating patients with NAFLD named NAFLD Mark. AUC was jumped to 0.98 (0.93–0.99) when five markers were combined. The AUC of NAFLD mark for NAFLD detection was higher than the AUCs of seven common NAFLD indexes (0.44–0.86). Conclusions The NAFLD mark is a non-invasive and highly sensitive and specific model for NAFLD diagnosis.