Energy homeostasis regulators indicating the development of NAFLD

Sadaf Bangash, Rohini Mehta, A. Birerdinc. A. Baranova

This is a collaborative project between

Molecular and Microbiology Department, College of Science,George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

Translational Reseach Institute, Inova Hospital, VA

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most frequent liver disease in the United States. The severity of NAFLD ranges from mild fat accumulation to advanced inflammation, NASH. Hormone regulating energy homeostasis, such as Ghrelin, Melanocyte-stimulating hormone and Melanin-concetrating hormone play a significant role in the development of NAFLD. The source of data such as serum samples,liver biopsies, clinical and laboratory examination were collected and the data was processed by Mathematic to obtain the results.
AIM:.The aim of the proposed study is to investigate the previously unexplored correlation of Ghrelin, MSH, MCH and inflammatory cytokines in different stages of NAFLD. This can help to elucidate what signaling pathway is involved in progression of fat accumulation into inflammation and cell degeneration and thus provide clues to future study to understand the mechanism of the malfunction.
Methods & Expected Results: Serum was collected from bariatric surgery patients at the time of the procedure - snap frozen and stored at -80. Biopsies were also performed at time of surgery and all were interpreted by a single hepatopathologist. Ghrelin, MCH, MSH and inflammatory cytokine levels were assayed by ELISA. Descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U-tests will be calculated on collected data sets from NAFLD patients in various stages. The data will be processed by Mathematica to delineate the distribution of levels of hormones and cytokines in different patient groups that ranging from mild to advanced NAFLD. Correlations between hormones, cytokines and clinical parameters will be assessed by Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient using Mathematica.