The potential role of serum miR-182-5p and miR-127-5p in diagnosis of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and its relationship with insulin resistance

Introduction
The most widespread chronic hepatic illness nowadays is metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), which has a higher risk of several complications including progression to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). New clinical research has established that microRNAs (miRNAs) are causative factors in the progression of MASLD, which could be used as diagnostic biomarkers and help in producing new treatment modalities.

Material and methods
Sixty adult patients with MASLD and 50 healthy individuals were incorporated in the current work. Serum miR-182-5p and miR-127-5p expression levels were measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

Results
Compared to healthy controls, patients with MASLD exhibited significantly downregulated serum levels of miR-182-5p and miR-127-5p (p < 0.001). Also, significant negative correlations were observed between miR-182-5p and miR-127-5p with the Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) (r = –0.304; p = 0.022, and r = –0.299; p = 0.028, respectively) indicating their association with insulin resistance, which is considered one of the hallmarks of MASLD. Serum miR-182-5p and miR-127-5p levels as predictive biomarkers for MASLD were evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.

Conclusions
miR-182-5p and miR-127-5p could serve as novel biomarkers for MASLD diagnosis and may offer a novel approach for the disease’s therapy.