and Variants Have Protective Effects on Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Patients Undergoing Bariatric Surgery.

The severity of hepatic steatosis is modulated by genetic variants, such as patatin-like phospholipase domain containing 3 () rs738409, transmembrane 6 superfamily member 2 () rs58542926, and membrane-bound O-acyltransferase domain containing 7 () rs641738. Recently, mitochondrial amidoxime reducing component 1 () rs2642438 and hydroxysteroid 17-beta dehydrogenase 13 () rs72613567 polymorphisms were shown to have protective effects on liver diseases. Here, we evaluate these variants in patients undergoing bariatric surgery. A total of 165 patients who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and intraoperative liver biopsies and 314 controls were prospectively recruited. Genotyping was performed using TaqMan assays. Overall, 70.3% of operated patients presented with hepatic steatosis. NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) was detected in 28.5% of patients; none had cirrhosis. The increment of liver fibrosis stage was associated with decreasing frequency of the minor allele ( = 0.03). In multivariate analysis was an independent protective factor against fibrosis ≥ 1b (OR = 0.52, = 0.03) and ≥ 1c (OR = 0.51, = 0.04). The risk allele was associated with increased hepatic steatosis, fibrosis, and NASH (OR = 2.22, = 0.04). The polymorphism was protective against liver injury as reflected by lower AST ( = 0.04) and ALT ( = 0.03) activities. The polymorphism was associated with increased ALT ( = 0.04). In conclusion, hepatic steatosis is common among patients scheduled for bariatric surgery, but the and polymorphisms lower liver injury in these individuals.