Anti-adipocyte antibody response in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Background and AimA significant number of autoantibodies have been reported in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients. In the present study, our aim was to assess the role of disease and cell-specific antibodies, namely anti-adipocyte antibodies (anti-AdAb) in patients with NAFLD and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). MethodsFlow cytometry was used to detect the presence of anti-AdAb (immunoglobulin M [IgM] and immunoglobulin G [IgG]) in sera from patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD (n=98) and in controls (n=49) without liver disease. Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed to draw associations between anti-AdAb IgM and IgG levels and the different clinical variables. ResultsPatients with NAFLD had significantly higher levels of anti-AdAb IgM and significantly lower levels of AdAb IgG when compared with controls (P=0.002 and P<0.001, respectively). Patients with NASH had significantly higher levels of anti-AdAb IgM when compared with non-NASH NAFLD patients, P=0.04. In multivariate analysis, anti-AdAb IgM was independently associated with a higher risk for NASH (odds ratio[OR]: 2.90 [confidence interval (CI) 1.18-7.16], P=0.02). Anti-AdAb IgM was also found to be independently associated with portal inflammation in patients with NAFLD (OR: 3.01 [CI 1.15-7.90 P=0.02]). ConclusionsAnti-AdAb IgM was independently associated with NAFLD and NASH while anti-AdAb IgG was found to be protective against NAFLD. Anti-AdAb IgM was found specifically to be associated with the inflammatory processes in NAFLD. These findings indicate that the anti-AdAb IgM and IgG may play an immunomodulatory role in the pathogenesis of NAFLD and NASH.