Abstracts of the 2021 Annual meeting of the ALEH (Asociación Latinoamericana para el Estudio del Hígado)
More infoAlcohol abuse has a high impact on the mortality and morbidity related to a great number of diseases and is responsible for the development of alcoholic liver disease (ALD). It remains challenging to detect and evaluate its severity, which is crucial for prognosis.
ObjectiveIn this work, we studied if urinary EVs (uEVs) could serve in diagnose and evaluate cirrhosis in ALD.
MethodsuEVs characterization by cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM), Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) and Western blotting (WB) was performed in a cohort of 21 controls and 21 cirrhotic patients. Then, proteomics of urinary EVs (uEVs) was carried out in a second cohort of 6 controls and 8 patients in order to identify new putative biomarkers for cirrhosis in ALD.
ResultsuEVs concentration, size and composition were altered in cirrhotic patients. A total of 1304 proteins were identified in uEVs, and 90 of them were found to be altered in cirrhotic patients.
ConclusionsuEVs could be considered as a tool and a supplier of new biomarkers for ALD, whose application would be especially relevant in chronic patients. Yet, further research is necessary to obtain more relevant result in clinical terms.