Association of keratin 8/18 variants with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and insulin resistance in Chinese patients: A case-control study

Table 1 Demographics and clinical information of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients and controls

	Controls (n = 173)	NAFLD patients (n = 200)	P value
Sex (male, %)	130 (75.14)	164 (82.00)	0.107
Age (yr)	39.55 ± 9.92	40.85 ± 9.89	0.101
ALT (U/L)	21.65 ± 12.69	43.63 ± 29.16	< 0.0001
AST (U/L)	24.74 ± 6.52	33.85 ± 12.93	< 0.0001
FBG (mmol/L)	4.89 ± 0.62	5.40 ± 1.45	< 0.0001
TC (mmol/L)	4.71 ± 0.77	5.68 ± 1.09	< 0.0001
TG (mmol/L)	1.29 ± 0.99	2.86 ± 2.14	< 0.0001
HDL (mmol/L)	1.22 ± 0.29	1.07 ± 0.23	< 0.0001
LDL (mmol/L)	2.80 ± 0.61	3.32 ± 0.95	< 0.0001
UA (μmol/L)	331.33 ± 88.61	412.42 ± 96.60	< 0.0001

Data are presented as mean ± SD. ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; FBG: Fasting blood glucose; TC: Total cholesterol; TG: Triglyceride; HDL: High-density lipoprotein; LDL: Low-density lipoprotein; NAFLD: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Table 2 Distribution of keratin variants in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients and controls

Keratin gene	Variant		NAFLD
	Nucleotide	Amino acid	Control (n = 173)	Total (n = 200)	NAFLD with IR (n = 79)	NAFLD without IR (n = 121)
K8	1022G→A	R341H	1	2	2	0
	904C→T	R302C	0	1	1	0
	1381G→A	V461M	0	1	0	1
	IVS5-9A→G (new)		0	1	1	0
	IVS3-26 C→T		0	1	1	0
K18	IVS6+19G→A (new)		0	1	1	0
	IVS6+17C→T		0	1	0	1
	IVS3-15C→G		0	11	11	0
	1590C→G	N193S (new)	0	11	11	0
	1448A→G	T195T (new)	0	1	0	1
Total (%)			1 (0.58)	10 (5.00)	7 (8.86)	3 (2.48)

¹One patient carries two K8/K18 variants (K18 N193S+K8 IVS3-15C→G). The table displays the number of patients with NAFLD and controls harboring the listed keratin variants. IR: Insulin resistance; NAFLD: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Table 3 Clinical features of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients harboring significant keratin variants

	Keratin variant carriers		P value
	No (n = 190)	Yes (n = 10)
Sex (male, %)	155 (81.58)	9 (90.00)	0.436
Age (yr)	40.75 ± 9.87	42.60 ± 10.63	0.603
Diastolic pressure (mmHg)	82.67 ± 10.47	85.80 ± 9.38	0.330
Systolic pressure (mmHg)	130.79 ± 14.82	134.20 ± 17.07	0.550
BMI (kg/m2)	26.26 ± 2.91	26.10 ± 3.09	0.877
ALT (U/L)	35.93 ± 18.35	38.40 ± 25.30	0.767
AST (U/L)	34.03 ± 13.08	30.40 ± 9.31	0.265
TC (mmol/L)	5.67 ± 1.02	6.10 ± 1.69	0.453
TG (mmol/L)	2.85 ± 2.14	3.00 ± 2.35	0.850
HDL (mmol/L)	1.09 ± 0.24	1.10 ± 0.18	0.828
LDL (mmol/L)	3.31 ± 0.94	3.65 ± 1.12	0.374
FBG (mmol/L)	5.38 ± 1.43	5.91 ± 1.44	0.281
FINS (mmol/L)	11.17 ± 4.52	12.73 ± 6.00	0.439
HOMA-IR	2.64 ± 1.14	3.25 ± 1.50	0.237
UA (μmol/L)	414.06 ± 96.89	381.50 ± 89.88	0.292

Data are presented as mean ± SD. BMI: Body mass index; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; TC: Total cholesterol; TG: Triglyceride HDL: High-density lipoprotein; LDL: Low-density lipoprotein; FBG: Fasting blood glucose; FINS: Fasting insulin; UA: Uric acid.