Studying serum immunoglobulin levels in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease

Abstract Background Preliminary data have found an association between serum immunoglobulins and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). We conducted this study to further investigate the levels of serum immunoglobulins in MASLD without steatohepatitis and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Methods One hundred participants were enrolled in the study and divided into two groups. In group A, 50 participants were diagnosed with MASLD without inflammation (steatohepatitis) based on clinical, laboratory, and radiological examinations. In Group B, 50 patients with MASH were diagnosed based on clinical and radiological features as well as elevated liver enzymes. In qualitative data, we used numbers and percentages to describe quantitative data, while for normally distributed quantitative data we calculated ranges, means, and standard deviations. The correlations were carried out using Pearson correlations for numerically normally distributed data and Spearman rho tests for numerically non-normally distributed and qualitative data, respectively. Results A statistically significant increase in ALT, AST, GGT, INR, and serum IgA group, along with a significant drop in platelets, albumin, IgG, and IgM was seen in the MASH group in comparison with the MAFLD group. IgA level was significantly higher in S-3, with no significant differences between S-1 and S-2. From all the immunoglobulins tested, IgG had a significantly perfect diagnostic performance in predicting the difference between MASLD and MASH. Conclusion This study showed a correlation between MASLD with and without MASH and immunoglobulin levels in the blood with IgA being significantly high in MASH; however, IgG and IgM are significantly high in NAFL. IgG had a perfect diagnostic performance in predicting the difference between MASH and MASLD from all the immunoglobulins tested.