Takanobu Iwadare, Takefumi Kimura, Taiki Okumura, Shun-Ichi Wakabayashi, Taro Nakajima, Shohei Kondo, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Yuki Yamashita, Ayumi Sugiura, Naoyuki Fujimori, Tomoo Yamazaki, Hideo Kunimoto, Satoshi Shimamoto, Koji Igarashi, Satoru Joshita, Naoki Tanaka, Takeji Umemura
BACKGROUND: Circulating autotaxin (ATX) levels have been reported to correlate with liver inflammation activity and liver fibrosis severity in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The objective of this study is to investigate whether serum ATX could predict liver-related events (LRE) in NAFLD patients. METHODS: This retrospective investigation includes 309 biopsy-proven NAFLD patients registered at Shinshu University Hospital. All patients are followed for at least 1 year, during which time the prevalence of LRE, including newly developing hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatic encephalopathy, ascites, and esophagogastric varices, is investigated in relation to ATX levels at the time of liver biopsy...
April 16, 2024: Commun Med (Lond)