A method found to predict liver disease 16 years before symptoms appear

Breakthrough in medicine: scientists found five protein precursors of dangerous liver disease long before symptoms appear

MAFLD is the most common liver disease in the world, rapidly gaining momentum and capable of doubling the risk of premature death.

"Imagine that we can predict the risk of MAFLD many years before the disease begins," emphasized Dr. Shii Yu, a resident physician at the Department of Gastroenterology of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital. - "Too often people learn about the disease when symptoms are already interfering with life. Our results open new possibilities for early diagnosis and prevention".

The large-scale study covered more than 50 thousand participants from the UK Biobank, who were observed for a full 16 years. Scientists managed to identify five key proteins - CDHR2, FUOM, KRT18, ACY1 and GGT1, whose blood levels serve as a reliable indicator of the development of metabolically associated fatty liver disease long before its clinical manifestations. Impressive results showed that analysis of these proteins allows predicting the disease with 83.8% accuracy 5 years before onset and with 75.6% accuracy - a full 16 years before symptoms appear. When combined with clinical indicators, including body mass index and physical activity level, the prediction accuracy increased to 90.4% and 82.2% respectively.

The reliability of the developed model was additionally confirmed on an independent Chinese sample, where the results were similar. This convincingly proves the universality of the method and the possibility of its application for different population groups.