%0 Journal Article
%T Leucine aminopeptidase 3:a promising serum biomarker candidate for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis diagnosis.
%A Feng L
%A Riaz F
%A Lu K
%A Cheng X
%A Chen Y
%A Zhao R
%A Wu L
%A Lu S
%A Li D
%J Int Immunopharmacol
%V 119
%N 0
%D Jun 2023 12
%M 37058753
%F 5.714
%R 10.1016/j.intimp.2023.110152
%X <B>OBJECTIVE: </B>Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a highly prevalent liver disease that lacks targeted therapeutic drugs and non-invasive diagnostic methods. Increasing evidence demonstrated that aberrant expression of leucine aminopeptidase 3 (LAP3) is involved in NASH. Herein, we aimed to investigate whether LAP3 can be a promising serum biomarker for NASH diagnosis.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>Liver tissues and serum from NASH rats, serum from NASH patients, and liver biopsies from chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients combined with NASH (CHB+NASH) were obtained to evaluate the LAP3 level. Correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between LAP3 expression and clinical indexes in CHB patients and CHB+NASH patients. ROC curve analysis of LAP3 in the serum and liver was applied to assess whether LAP3 can be a promising biomarker for NASH diagnosis.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>LAP3 was significantly upregulated in serum and hepatocytes of NASH rats and patients with NASH. Correlation analysis revealed that LAP3 in the liver of CHB patients and CHB+NASH patients showed a strong positive correlation with lipidome indicators total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG), and liver fibrosis indicator hyaluronic acid (HA), which showed a negative correlation with the international normalized ratio of prothrombin coagulation (INR) and liver injury indicator aspartate aminotransferase (AST). For NASH, the diagnostic accuracy of ALT > LAP3 > AST, the sensitivity LAP3 (0.87) > ALT (0.5957) > AST (0.2941), the specificity AST (0.975) > ALT (0.9) > LAP3 (0.5).<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>Our data urge that LAP3 can serve as a promising serum biomarker candidate for NASH diagnosis.