Serum Visfatin Levels in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Liver Fibrosis: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

(1) Background: Recently, adipokines, including visfatin, have been studied in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Several studies evaluated visfatin levels in NAFLD, the presence and severity of hepatic steatosis, liver fibrosis, lobar inflammation, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and gender differences. However, inconclusive results have been reported. Accordingly, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis, aiming to address these gaps in evidence. (2) Methods: We performed a systematic electronic search on PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library using predefined keywords. Diagnosis of NAFLD by liver biopsy or imagistic investigations was accepted. Full articles satisfying our inclusion and exclusion criteria were included. NHLBI quality assessment tools were used to evaluate included studies. The principal summary outcome was the mean difference in visfatin levels. (3) Results: There were 21 studies involving 1,923 individuals included in our qualitative assessment, while 14 studies were included in the quantitative assessment. No statistical significance was found assessing visfatin levels in NAFLD [3.361 (95% CI −0.175–6.897)], simple steatosis [7.523 (95% CI −16.221–31.267)], hepatic steatosis severity [−0.279 (95% CI −1.843–1.285)], liver fibrosis [4.133 (95% CI −3.176–11.443)], lobar inflammation [0.358 (95% CI −1.470–2.185)], NASH [−2.038 (95% CI −6.839–2.763)], and gender [(95% CI −0.554–0.556)]. (4) Conclusions: In conclusion, visfatin levels are not associated with NAFLD, presence or severity of hepatic steatosis, liver fibrosis, lobar inflammation, NASH, and gender. However, due to the limited methodological quality of the included studies, results should be interpreted with caution.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and health outcomes: An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses

“…Overall, a total of 2200 research articles were investigated from PubMed ( n = 1295), Web of Science ( n = 862), and Cochrane database ( n = 43). After excluding the 17 articles and 53 overlapping meta-analyses ( Supplementary Table 1 ), 54 articles with 111 unique health outcomes were included 29 – 82 ( Table 1 ). The publication dates of these studies range from 2013 through 2021.…”

“…Fifty-three outcomes were recalculated using the Egger’s test through which the raw data in each included meta-analysis to evaluate for potential publication bias. Due to the small number of studies, there were still 21 outcomes in 15 articles that could not be recalculated using the Egger’s test, 32 , 40 , 49 , 57 – 59 , 61 , 65 , 67 , 70 – 72 , 74 , 76 , 79 thus we were not able to assess their publication bias. In the end, 71 health outcomes had no publication bias ( p value for Egger’s test ⩾ 0.1) while 19 health outcomes presented publication bias ( p value for Egger’s test ← 0.1).…”

Relationship between Adipokines and Cardiovascular Ultrasound Parameters in Metabolic-Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease

“…Several articles, including systematic reviews and meta-analyses evaluated adiponectin and visfatin levels in NAFLD [ 17 , 22 ]. However, so far, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have evaluated these adipokines in patients with MAFLD using the newly defined diagnosis criteria.…”

“…However, the authors suggested that hypoadiponectinemia may exert a significant pathophysiological role in the progression from NAFL to NASH. Another systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated serum visfatin levels in NAFLD, concluding that visfatin levels were not found to be associated with NAFLD, whether biopsy-proven or ultrasound-diagnosed, presence or severity of hepatic steatosis, liver fibrosis, lobar inflammation, or NASH [ 22 ].…”

“…Multiple pathways affected by visfatin include oxidative stress response, insulin resistance and inflammation [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]. A recently published meta-analysis evaluated serum visfatin levels in NAFLD, demonstrating no significant association [ 22 ]. Furthermore, increased visfatin levels were found to be associated with atherosclerotic disease and coronary artery disease (CAD), pathologies demonstrated to be among the main mortality causes in fatty liver disease [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ].…”