Predicting liver disease years before clinical presentation
Novel blood-based biomarkers could help predict the risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease up to 16 years before its onset.
In a study published presented at Digestive Disease Week 2025, researchers analyzed blood samples from more than 50,000 individuals who participated in the UK Biobank. They then screened over 2,700 proteins to determine which could be used as biomarkers for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.
The researchers identified a panel of five plasma proteins — including CDHR2, FUOM, KRT18, ACY1 and GGT1 — that demonstrated more than 83% and 75% predictive accuracy five and 16 years prior to the manifestation of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, respectively. Including clinical parameters such as body mass index and physical activity, the researchers were able to improve their predictive model by about 7 percentage points.
The findings could lead to the development of early interventions to prevent onset of the disease. The researchers plan to conduct further studies exploring the mechanisms behind the disease’s pathogenesis.
Read more: DDW 2025
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