Fatty liver disease related to obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic problems is becoming very common worldwide. One of the main concerns is that many people do not have symptoms, so the disease can remain hidden for years. What doctors worry about most is liver scarring, called fibrosis, because it can lead to more serious liver problems over time.
Today, the most accurate way to check for liver scarring is a liver biopsy, but this test is invasive and not suitable for everyone. For this reason, researchers are looking for simple blood tests that could help identify people at higher risk.
This study focused on a protein called Fibulin-3. Researchers found that Fibulin-3 levels were higher in people with more advanced liver scarring. They also showed that Fibulin-3 performed better than some commonly used blood-based scores in detecting significant fibrosis. When combined with other routine blood and clinical measurements, its accuracy improved further.
These findings suggest that Fibulin-3 could become part of a future blood test to help doctors detect liver scarring earlier and more easily, especially in people with obesity-related fatty liver disease. More studies are still needed before it can be used in everyday clinical practice, but this research is a promising step toward less invasive and earlier diagnosis.
Articolo originale:
Fibulin-3 as a reliable biomarker of fibrosis in obese subjects with Metabolically Dysfunction Associated Steatotic Liver Disease
Allen Anthony Laraño, Silvia Palmisano, Deborah Bonazza, Discipio Marina, Marica Meroni, Anna Ludovica Fracanzani, Lory S Crocè, Claudio Tiribelli, Paola Dongiovanni, Natalia Rosso, Giraudi Pablo
medRxiv 2026.01.08.26343687; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.01.08.26343687
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