Serum Pentraxin 3 level in Egyptian patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the common chronic liver disease causes. For NAFLD detection, liver biopsy is the definitive method, but it has significant restrictions. Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is an acute phase reactant, and its increased plasma levels are considered indicative of NAFLD. Additionally, individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were found to have increased PTX3 serum levels compared to healthy controls. Given that T2DM is a major health concern in Egypt, we intended to investigate the serum PTX3 application as a NAFLD non-invasive diagnostic in T2DM individuals. Methods: A total of 96 participants were evenly distributed into three groups: those with NAFLD and T2DM, those with T2DM but without NAFLD, and a group of healthy controls. Assessments included medical history, clinical exams, lab tests (complete blood count, blood sugar, ALT, AST, creatinine, lipid profile, and PTX3), and imaging (ultrasound and FibroScan). NAFLD diagnosis uses clinical and imaging criteria, with liver biopsies for unclear cases. Results: Among diabetic patients, those with NAFLD had significantly higher PTX3 levels. At a cut-off value of more than 2.3 ng/mL, PTX3 has a positive predictive value of 93.3%, a sensitivity of 87.5%, a specificity of 93.75%, and a negative predictive value of 88.2%, with an accuracy of 87.8%. Conclusion: PTX3 levels were higher in diabetic NAFLD individuals compared to both diabetic ones without NAFLD and healthy controls. Thus, PTX3 is a biomarker for NAFLD with high sensitivity and specificity when suspected in T2DM patients.