Relationship between circulating miR-132 and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in a Chinese population

BACKGROUND: Non-invasive diagnostic markers are of great importance for early screening nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play significant roles in many metabolic disease, including NAFLD. Therefore, this study focusd on a Chinese population to explore the possible correlation between circulating miR-132 and NAFLD. RESULTS: Serum miR-132 was positively associated with NAFLD in non-type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) groups by logistic regression (OR = 3.082 [1.057, 8.988], P = 0.039) after adjusting age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). Additionally, in non-T2DM subgroup, after adjusting age, sex, bmi, serum miR-132 was significantly associated with ALT (β ± SE = 0.005 ± 0.002, P = 0.018), TG (β ± SE = 0.072 ± 0.029, P = 0.015), FPG (β ± SE = 0.123 ± 0.058, P = 0.036), γ-GT (β ± SE = 0.002 ± 0.001, P = 0.047), apoE (β ± SE = 0.038 ± 0.002, P = 0.017) . CONCLUSIONS: Serum miR-132 was found to be associated with NAFLD risk in a Chinese cross-section study. This finding provides a prospective research direction for early screening and diagnosing NAFLD.