Exosomal miRNAs Profile in Children's Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and the Correlation with Transaminase and Uric Acid.

OBJECTIVE

The incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in children increased rapidly. However, the pathogenesis of NAFLD, especially how non-alcoholic fatty liver progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, is still unclear. This study aims to explore the exosomal miRNAs profiles and the underline pathogenesis of child NAFLD.

METHODS

Twenty NAFLD and 20 health control were enrolled in this study. Circulating exosomes were isolated, and RNA sequencing was performed in test set (3 NAFLD/3 Controls). The differentially expressed miRNAs (DEM) were further validated in validation set (17 NAFLD/17 Controls). Spearman correlation -analysis was used to investigate the association between DEM and clinical parameters.

RESULTS

Eighty-two miRNAs were differentially expressed (absolute fold change >2 and p < 0.05) in the 2 groups, they were involved in fat acid metabolism, starch and sucrose metabolism, bile acid metabolism and inflammation. miRNA122-5p, miRNA34a-5p, -miRNA155-5p and miRNA146b-3p were up-regulated in NAFLD group (p < 0.05) and positively correlated with body mass index (r, 0.41-0.59), alanine aminotransferase (r, 0.36-0.52), aspartate transaminase (r, 0.31-0.48) and uric acid (UA, r, 0.51-0.69; p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Circulating exosomal miRNAs may be involved in the pathogenesis of NAFLD and correlated with transaminase and UA.