{"id":6729,"date":"2021-06-10T10:47:21","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T01:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/?page_id=6729"},"modified":"2022-08-26T14:44:34","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T05:44:34","slug":"kodama2021-06","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/activities\/results\/2021year\/kodama2021-06","title":{"rendered":"Kazuhiro Kozumi, Takahiro Kodama, Tetsuo Takehara \u226aGastroenterology and Hepatology\u226b <span>A simple blood test to identify patients at risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease<\/span>"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"linkBar clearfix\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/activities\/results\/2021year\/kodama2021-06\">Text in Japanese<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p><span class=\"lineFrame\">Publish\u00a0<\/span> <em>HEPATOLOGY<\/p>\n<p><em>Researchers at Osaka University identify a new noninvasive biomarker that can be used in the diagnosis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease <\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/kodama-hepa-pic1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6731 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/kodama-hepa-pic1-400x244.jpg?_t=1634089881\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"244\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Figure 1 :Thrombospondin 2 is a new diagnostic and prognostic serum biomarker in NAFLD \u00a0(credit: Osaka University)\u3000<\/p>\n<p>Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease worldwide and can progress to liver cirrhosis, liver failure or cancer. Currently, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) diagnosis requires an invasive liver biopsy which can lead to procedural complications. Now, researchers at Osaka University working with international collaborators have identified a noninvasive biomarker that can identify patients at risk of NAFLD complications using a simple blood test.<\/p>\n<p>Owing to the increasing prevalence of obesity worldwide, as many as one in four humans has NAFLD. Unrelated to alcohol intake by definition, the early stage \u2013 NAFL (nonalcoholic fatty liver) \u2013 is asymptomatic. Unfortunately, progression to NASH incurs inflammatory damage and eventually liver fibrosis occurs; this may further lead to adverse outcomes. Liver deterioration can be deferred by lifestyle modifications comprising diet and exercise; therefore, early diagnosis is key.<\/p>\n<p>Diagnostic confirmation requires a needle biopsy; however, the disadvantages include expense and variability in sampling and interpretation. The research team investigated whether they could devise a diagnostic screen using transcriptomics, the emerging science of analyzing the \u2018transcriptome,\u2019 the entire array of an organism\u2019s messenger RNA molecules derived from expression of the genome.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe obtained liver tissue from over 300 Japanese and European patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD and performed global RNA sequencing,\u201d co-first author Kazuhiro Kozumi explains. \u201cRemarkably, from the protein patterns we could not only distinguish NASH from NAFL, but also determine the molecular hallmarks of NASH pathology. Specifically, we pinpointed that levels of thrombospondin-2 (TSP-2), a glycoprotein encoded by the <em>THBS2<\/em> gene, were increased in both NASH and advanced fibrosis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The researchers established that <em>THBS2<\/em> expression in liver cells paralleled the clinical indicators conventionally used to categorize the pathological changes including serum enzyme levels, NAFLD Activity Score and NAFLD Fibrosis Score. \u201cSerum levels of TSP-2 in NAFLD patients were significantly higher in NASH than in NAFL,\u201d co-first author Takahiro Kodama claims, \u201cand, interestingly, the increase tallied with the degree of fibrosis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Corresponding author Tetsuo Takehara explains the clinical relevance of their research findings. \u201cBoth hepatic <em>THBS2<\/em> gene expression in the liver and serum protein levels of TSP-2 can diagnose cases of NASH and\/or advanced fibrosis. A simple and convenient blood test can provide a clinically useful early warning system for complications of NAFLD and inform lifestyle modifications or other interventions that may alter the course of the disease and improve the prognosis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>###<\/p>\n<p>The article, \u201cTranscriptomics identify thrombospondin-2 as a biomarker for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and advanced liver fibrosis\u201d was published in <em>Hepatology<\/em> at DOI: <a href=\"about:blank\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/hep.31995<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Keywords: <\/strong>Medicine\/Health<br \/><strong>Secondary keywords:<\/strong> Internal Medicine, Liver, Gastroenterology, Cancer, Metabolic Diseases, Molecular Biology, Genes<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summary:<\/strong> Researchers from Osaka University, along with international collaborators in Europe, have identified Thrombospondin-2 as a serum biomarker that confirms and stratifies the progressive complications of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. This research may form the basis of a new noninvasive approach that can provide an early warning system for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and advanced fibrosis and may predict progression to cirrhosis, liver failure and even cancer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tweet: <\/strong>An early warning system for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease progression<br \/><strong>Tweet 2:<\/strong> Researchers at Osaka University identify a serum biomarker, thrombospondin-2, that can categorize progressive NAFLD and may predict the risk of complications<\/p>\n<p class=\"figure\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/kodama-hepa-pic2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6732 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/kodama-hepa-pic2-400x364.jpg?_t=1634090164\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"364\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Figure 2 : Hepatic THBS2 gene expression and clinical stage in patients with NAFLD<br \/>A) Hepatic THBS2 mRNA levels are elevated in the NASH group and increases in parallel with liver fibrosis stage, * p&lt;0.05<br \/>B) Hepatic THBS2 mRNA level can be used for diagnosing NASH and advanced fibrosis \u00a0(credit: Osaka University)\u3000<\/p>\n<p class=\"figure\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/kodama-hepa-pic3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6733 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/kodama-hepa-pic3-400x273.jpg?_t=1634090252\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"273\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Figure 3 : Serum TSP-2 level and clinical stage in patients with NAFLD<br \/>A) Serum TSP-2 levels are elevated in the NASH group and increase and increases in parallel with liver fibrosis stage, * p&lt;0.05<br \/>B) Serum TSP-2 level can be used for diagnosing NASH and advanced fibrosis<br \/>C) High serum TSP-2 group has significantly higher incidence of complications associated with liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. (credit: Osaka University)\u3000<\/p>\n<p>Title: \u201cTranscriptomics identify thrombospondin-2 as a biomarker for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and advanced liver fibrosis\u201d<br \/>Journal: <em>Hepatology<br \/><\/em>Authors: Kazuhiro Kozumi,\u00a0Takahiro Kodama,\u00a0Hiroki Murai,\u00a0Sadatsugu Sakane,\u00a0Olivier Govaere,\u00a0Simon Cockell,\u00a0Daisuke Motooka,\u00a0Naruyasu Kakita,\u00a0Yukinori Yamada,\u00a0Yasuteru Kondo,\u00a0Yuki Tahata,\u00a0Ryoko Yamada,\u00a0Hayato Hikita,\u00a0Ryotaro Sakamori,\u00a0Yoshihiro Kamada,\u00a0Ann K. Daly,\u00a0Quentin M. Anstee,\u00a0Tomohide Tatsumi,\u00a0Eiichi Morii,\u00a0and Tetsuo Takehara<br \/>DOI: 10.1002\/hep.31995<br \/>Funded by: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Text in Japanese Publish\u00a0 HEPATOLOGY Researchers at Osaka University identify a new noninvasive biomarker that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6731,"parent":6480,"menu_order":75,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6729"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6729"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7575,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6729\/revisions\/7575"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}