Plasma Pentraxin 3 Differentiates Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) from Non-NASH

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) includes a variety of histopathological findings ranging from simple steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) which can only be differentiated by liver biopsy. There is yet no unique biomarker found to discriminate NASH from simple steatosis.We aimed to investigate the relationship of plasma pentraxin 3 (PTX3) and its main stimulant tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-) with the degree of liver damage in NAFLD. Methods: Plasma PTX3 and TNF- levels were measured in 70 patients with histologically verified NAFLD (56 with NASH, 14 with non-NASH) and 12 controls. Results: PTX3 and TNF- levels were found significantly higher in the NAFLD group than in the control group (4.12.3 vs. 1.3 +/- 0.8ng/mL, P<0.001, and 7.6 +/- 4.1 vs. 3.3 +/- 1.3pg/mL, P<0.001 respectively) and in biopsy proven NASH subgroup than non-NASH subgroup (4.6 +/- 2.2 vs. 2.2 +/- 1.7ng/mL, P=0.001, and 8.3 +/- 4.3 vs. 4.6 +/- 1.6pg/mL, P=0.001 respectively). To discriminate NASH from non-NASH PTX3 had 91.1% sensitivity and 71.4% specificity at the cutoff value of 2.45ng/mL. Plasma PTX3 levels showed correlation with NAFLD activity score, fibrosis stage and steatosis grade (r=0.659, P<0.001; r=0.354, P<0.01; and r=0.455, P<0.001, respectively). Conclusion: This study demonstrated markedly higher PTX3 levels in NAFLD patients compared with controls, and in biopsy proven NASH patients compared with non-NASH ones. Thus, in this cohort we showed that plasma PTX3 may be a promising biomarker for the presence of NASH.