ArticleGut2017
Plasma DNA methylation: a potential biomarker for stratification of liver fibrosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Article in Gut, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 132 papers.
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Who cites it
132 citing papers in PubMed, 211 citations in OpenAlex.
- HCV patients with residual fibrosis after DAA treatment re-establish their epigenetic signature after prolonged-release pirfenidone: MINERVA study.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Trial
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- Non-Invasive Assessment of Microvascular Invasion Risk in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Liquid Biopsy: Translational Insights and Clinical Implications.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Associations of Accelerated DNA Methylation Aging Algorithms with Chronic Liver Disease and All-Cause Mortality.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Therapeutic targets for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis: a personalized approach to disease management.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2026Review
- The role of hepatocyte epigenetics in the pathogenesis of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.Communications medicine · 2026Review
- PlasmaHepatology forum · 2026Article
- Putative Imprinting Control Regions with Aberrant Blood-Based DNA Methylation are Associated with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Risk.Journal of hepatocellular carcinoma · 2026Article
- Non-invasive blood biomarkers for assessment of liver fibrosis in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.World journal of hepatology · 2025Review
- Present and Future Perspectives in the Treatment of Liver Fibrosis.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Review
- Inhibition of epigenetic regulator UHRF1 attenuates renal fibrosis and retains transcription factor Krüppel-like factor 15 expression.Cell death discovery · 2025Article
- Management of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)-An expert consensus statement from Indian diabetologists' perspective.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2025Review
- Article
- Methylome-wide association analyses of lipids and modifying effects of behavioral factors in diverse race and ethnicity participants.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Article
- Increased frequencies of human Th-17 CD4+ T-cells and decreased T-regulatory cells in patients with early and advanced metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Role of genetic variants and DNA methylation of lipid metabolism-related genes in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Review
- Exploring PPAR Gamma and PPAR Alpha's Regulation Role in Metabolism via Epigenetics Mechanism.Biomolecules · 2024Review
- Review
- Longitudinal association of peripheral blood DNA methylation with liver fat content: distinguishing between predictors and biomarkers.Lipids in health and disease · 2024Article
72 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveLiver biopsy is currently the most reliable way of evaluating liver fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Its inherent risks limit its widespread use. Differential liver DNA methylation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) gene promoter has recently been shown to stratify patients in terms of fibrosis severity but requires access to liver tissue. The aim of this study was to assess whether DNA methylation of circulating DNA could be detected in human plasma and potentially used to stratify liver fibrosis severity in patients with NAFLD.
designPatients with biopsy-proven NAFLD and age-matched controls were recruited from the liver and gastroenterology clinics at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Plasma cell-free circulating DNA methylation of PPARγ was quantitatively assessed by pyrosequencing. Liver DNA methylation was quantitatively assessed by pyrosequencing NAFLD explant tissue, subjected to laser capture microdissection (LCM). Patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD) were also subjected to plasma DNA and LCM pyrosequencing.
results26 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD were included. Quantitative plasma DNA methylation of PPARγ stratified patients into mild (Kleiner 1-2) and severe (Kleiner 3-4) fibrosis (CpG1: 63% vs 86%, p<0.05; CpG2: 51% vs 65% p>0.05). Hypermethylation at the PPARγ promoter of plasma DNA correlated with changes in hepatocellular rather than myofibroblast DNA methylation. Similar results were demonstrated in patients with ALD cirrhosis.
conclusionsDifferential DNA methylation at the PPARγ promoter can be detected within the pool of cell-free DNA of human plasma. With further validation, plasma DNA methylation of PPARγ could potentially be used to non-invasively stratify liver fibrosis severity in patients with NAFLD. Plasma DNA methylation signatures reflect the molecular pathology associated with fibrotic liver disease.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.