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Endocrine
Published in: Endocrine 2/2017

01-02-2017 | Original Article

Low vitamin D status is associated with advanced liver fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Authors: Bing-Bing Yang, Yuan-Hua Chen, Cheng Zhang, Chang-E Shi, Kai-Feng Hu, Ju Zhou, De-Xiang Xu, Xi Chen

Published in: Endocrine | Issue 2/2017

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Abstract

Several studies explored the association between vitamin D status and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease with contradictory results. We aimed to investigate the association between vitamin D status, inflammatory cytokines and liver fibrosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients. Two hundred nineteen nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients and 166 age- and gender- matched healthy controls were recruited for this study. Serum 25(OH)D was measured by radioimmunoassay. Serum interleukin-8 and transforming growth factor-β1 were measured using ELISA. Serum 25(OH)D was only marginally decreased in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients. Interestingly, serum 25(OH)D was markedly reduced in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients with advanced liver fibrosis compared to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients with indeterminate liver fibrosis and no advanced fibrosis. Logistic regression analysis showed that there was an inverse association between serum 25(OH)D and severity of liver fibrosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients. Further analysis showed that serum interleukin-8 was elevated in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients, the highest interleukin-8 in patients with advanced fibrosis. An inverse correlation between serum 25(OH)D and interleukin-8 was observed in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients with and without liver fibrosis. Although serum transforming growth factor-β1 was slightly elevated in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients, serum transforming growth factor-β1 was reduced in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients with advanced fibrosis. Unexpectedly, a positive correlation between serum 25(OH)D and transforming growth factor-β1 was observed in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients with advanced fibrosis. In conclusion, low vitamin D status is associated with advanced liver fibrosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients. Interleukin-8 may be an important mediator for hepatic fibrosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients with low vitamin D status.
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Metadata
Title
Low vitamin D status is associated with advanced liver fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
Authors
Bing-Bing Yang
Yuan-Hua Chen
Cheng Zhang
Chang-E Shi
Kai-Feng Hu
Ju Zhou
De-Xiang Xu
Xi Chen
Publication date
01-02-2017
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Endocrine / Issue 2/2017
Print ISSN: 1355-008X
Electronic ISSN: 1559-0100
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-016-1152-x

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