Noncoding RNA Transcripts Based Molecular Phenotyping of MASLD and MASH Patients

Authors

• Frida M. Delgadillo, University of Texas at El Paso
• Karla Perez, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
• Barbara Yang, University of Texas at El Paso
• Subramanian Dhandayuthapani, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
• Murali Yallapu, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
• Subhash C. Chauhan, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
• Enrique I. Ramos, University of Texas at El Paso
• Shrikanth S. Gadad, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2026

Abstract

Background and aims: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a progressive hepatic metabolic disorder characterized by excessive fat accumulation in hepatocytes. MASLD can advance to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). These conditions often lead to hepatic fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) if not timely diagnosed and managed; thus, molecular phenotyping of MASLD and MASH conditions is highly desirable. The analyses were performed to identify distinct, differentially expressed genes, particularly noncoding ones, in MASLD and MASH patient samples, thereby expanding diagnostic and therapeutic options.

Methods: We extracted the data from a recent transcriptomic study by Govaere et al. on MASLD and MASH patient samples. We focused on transcripts with limited coding potential to broaden the scope of biomarker or therapeutic target identification, given their very specific expression patterns.

Results: This analysis identified long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) that are differentially expressed among MASLD and MASH conditions. Among the up-regulated lncRNAs, 49 were specific to MASLD, such as MYCNOS. In contrast, 88 were unique to MASH, such as ELFN2-208, LINC01507 and LINC01435. Similarly, among the down-regulated noncoding transcripts, 93 were unique to MASLD, including AADACL2-AS1 and ST8SIA6-AS1, whereas 132 were unique to MASH, such as SYBU-AS1, LGALS17A-207, ZNF474-AS1 and LINC01116. Additionally, we employed the Genomic Regions Enrichment of Annotations Tool (GREAT) to assess their functional relevance in MASLD or MASH and to link them to biologically meaningful terms.

Conclusion: This study broadens the scope of noncoding RNA-based MASLD/MASH biomarker and therapeutic target identification, which ultimately aids early diagnosis of these prominent liver diseases and helps prevent advanced liver diseases such as HCC.

Comments

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Recommended Citation

Delgadillo, F. M., Perez, K., Yang, B., Dhandayuthapani, S., Yallapu, M. M., Chauhan, S. C., ... & Gadad, S. S. (2026). Noncoding RNA Transcripts Based Molecular Phenotyping of MASLD and MASH Patients. Liver International Communications, 7(3), e70053. https://doi.org/10.1002/lci2.70053

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Liver International Communications

DOI

10.1002/lci2.70053

Academic Level

faculty

Mentor/PI Department

Immunology and Microbiology