Development of countermeasures and prognostic markers for sarcopenia associated with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K15953
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 53010:Gastroenterology-related
• Research Institution: Kumamoto University
• Principal Investigator: Setoyama Hiroko 熊本大学, 病院, 助教 (90796103)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: サルコペニア / 非アルコール性脂肪肝炎 / 酸化ストレス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The association of reduced and oxidized albumin (HMA) and advanced oxidation protein products (AOPPs) levels with the clinical presentation of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) was investigated in a total of 87 patients throughout the study period. Correlation analysis of factors related to muscle strength and body composition (grip strength, muscle mass, body fat percentage, and muscle mass) revealed that grip strength demonstrated a strong correlation with HMA mass, while L3-level muscle mass exhibited a strong correlation with AOPPs and a moderate correlation with HMA mass (r=0.523). In the study of animal experimental models, NASH was evaluated in choline-deficient, high-fat diet (ChD-HFD) mice. The same evaluation was also performed on mice created by administering a high-fat diet to aged mice for 8 weeks as a NASH+sarcopenia model. Grip strength exhibited a tendency to be lower in the latter.

Free Research Field

肝疾患、酸化ストレス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

我々の検討によりAOPPsや還元型アルブミンがMASLD/MASH患者に関連したサルコペニア予備軍の早期診断に有用なバイオマーカーであることが示唆された。MASLD/MASH患者では、健常人と比較してサルコペニアの合併率が有意に高い。またサルコペニアはそれ自体がMASLDのリスク因子であるだけでなく、MASHや肝線維化進展に関与する因子であることや肝硬変患者の死亡リスクを約２倍高めることなどが明らかになっており、MASH関連サルコペニアにおける早期診断マーカーや治療法の開発が求められている。今後はこれらがサルコペニアに関与するメカニズムについて検討が必要である。