Distinct hepatic gene expression patterns characterize progressive disease in NAFLD. Distinct hepatic gene expression patterns characterize progressive disease in NAFLD

The pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is not fully understood. Transcriptomic analysis of a large cohort of 318 patients provides evidence of gene perturbations related to inflammation, complement and coagulation pathways, and tissue remodeling in distinct states of NAFLD. Overall design: Using the Nanostring nCounter assay, we quantified expression of 795 genes (and 5 housekeeping genes) hypothesized to be involved in hepatic fibrosis, inflammation, and steatosis in liver tissue from 318 adults. Liver specimens were categorized into 4 distinct NAFLD phenotypes: normal liver histology (NLH), steatosis only (steatosis), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis without fibrosis (NASH F0), and NASH with fibrosis stage 1-4 (NASH F1-F4).