Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has a global prevalence of nearly 25% i.e., affects one quarter of the adult population. Early phase NAFLD is reversible and can be treated, but it may progress towards life-threatening stages such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The conventional diagnosis of NAFLD stages requires liver biopsy and is time-consuming and costly and there is an urgent need to identify biomarkers that can be applied in routine clinical settings, such as through blood-based testing. The identification of blood biomarkers would support earlier diagnosis and improved assessment of prognosis, ultimately supporting preventive/intervention measures to avoid progression to late stage liver disease and thus saving lives. In RENAISSANCE, a state-of-the-art liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) metabolomics screening will be conducted upon the blood and blood-derived exosomes of a unique deeply phenotyped cohort of NAFLD patients for molecular biomarker discovery. Notably, exosome analysis shows promise for the identification of novel disease signatures but has yet to be applied to characterize NAFLD, providing high potential for the identification of new diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers for NAFLD. Furthermore, the LC-HRMS screen will be supported via targeted assays of redox metabolites and protein markers of acute inflammation. The integration of non-target and target data will provide insight into the underlying mechanisms of disease progression and further knowledge about potential causative factors of NAFLD.

Sustainable Development Goals

Masaryk University is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to improve the conditions and quality of life on our planet by 2030.