Research: fatty liver, new chip technology for early diagnosis

It's registered Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma the creation of a 3D platform capable of 'functioning' like a real human liver, as demonstrated in a study published in Plos One. Thanks to this special approach, intended to overcome the current limitations of in vitro and animal model experiments, it will now be possible to investigate the origin of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), one of the most widespread and fearful liver diseases in developed countries. Objective: to identify biomarkers useful for early diagnosis and therapies, recognizable thanks to a simple blood sample
 

Rome, 15 September 2016 – A simple blood sample to know exactly if and how much our liver is 'fat': this is what will be possible in the near future thanks to a study byUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, published in the scientific journal Plos One.
 
The research of the Tissue and Chemical Engineering Operative Unit for the Engineering of theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, carried out in collaboration with the Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnology of CNR - partner in the Joint Laboratory of Nanotechnology for Life Sciences - is now paving the way for the identification of possible ones biomarkers for the early and non-invasive diagnosis of fatty liver disease, also called 'fatty liver', by blood sampling. An unprecedented possibility, which would allow timely and targeted therapies to be administered for the treatment of a syndrome that is no longer typically 'Western' and which, in addition to being linked to factors such as obesity, diabetes and dyslipidemia, accentuated by adequate and from environmental pollution, seems to have genetic and epigenetic bases.
 
What is NAFLD
La non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), is a disease that indiscriminately affects both adults and children in most ethnic groups and has an incidence rate between 10 and 25% of the global population, increasing in recent years mainly due to the growth of subjects obese. It is the most common chronic liver disease in industrialized countries. In Italy, according to recent data, about 25% of the population suffers from it. A 'benign' disease in itself and yet fearful, because it can represent a predisposing factor for more serious liver pathologies, such as steatohepatitis, characterized by inflammation and necrosis of the liver, and can subsequently lead to liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. 5-10% of patients with cirrhosis of the liver develophepatocellular carcinoma, the third leading cause of cancer death in the world.
NAFLD can currently only be accurately diagnosed through the liver biopsy, an invasive and expensive examination, consisting of a sample of liver tissue to be subjected to histological examination, or through ultrasound, a screening test which, however, has limitations in terms of sensitivity and specificity.
 
A 'chip' that works like the human liver
The new frontier towards biomarkers is now possible thanks to development of a particular three-dimensional study platform (3D), consisting of a microfluidic chip in which to cultivate liver cells to be subjected to lipid accumulation. In this way, the researchers have recreated a pathophysiological model as close as possible to what happens in the human liver. This element, which distinguishes the chips used in the project under dynamic culture conditions, ensures that the simulated environment is very similar to the conditions that occur in the liver and far surpasses current in vitro static culture technology. In fact, on traditional two-dimensional culture plates, the administration of free fatty acids causes an acute lowering of cell viability, while the 3D structures in which the cells are grown in the chips allow their survival to be higher and lipid accumulation more moderate and gradual, as it happens inside our liver.
these new micro-devices, therefore, they turned out to be especially suitable for simulating a chronic condition such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the human liver, as they allow at the same time longer experiments, the reduction of the variables to be evaluated, a better control of the experimental conditions and the cost containment: requirements impossible to obtain with animal experimentation.
 
"Thanks to the technological system we have created - explains the Dr. Alberto Rainer, researcher at the Laboratory of Tissue Engineering of theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma we will now be able to start an experimental study for the identification of the predictive signals of the pathology, i.e. of biological markers which, in the not too distant future, will be recognized thanks to a simple blood analysis. This would lead not only to the early diagnosis, but also to the possibility of establishing a accurate staging of steatosis non-alcoholic liver disease”. The same biomarkers obtained thanks to the 'liver-on-a-chip' technology could also represent new therapeutic targets for drug development innovative.

Although it is not a well-known disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is widespread, in Italy and in the world. A work published by Prof. Zobahir Younossi in the scientific journal hepatology revisited the scientific literature on steatosis, with a sampling from 22 countries of the world, equal to 8 and a half million patients. The result is that of one Average worldwide prevalence of steatosis of 25%, with higher percentages in the Middle East and South America, where food and lifestyle favor the accumulation of fat. Transferred the data to the entire population of the globe, about one and a half billion people in the world suffer from this pathology. Furthermore, Younossi's study calculated that about 1% of 'fatty livers' evolve into steatohepatitis, a disease with a mortality of one person in 80.