Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to explore the changes of serum cystatin C (CysC), lipoprotein α (Lp-α) and human new satiety molecule protein 1 (nesfatin-1) levels in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD). Methods A total of 119 patients with NAFLD and 65 healthy individuals with matched age and gender were enrolled in our hospital between July 2019 and November 2021. Serum CysC, Lp-α and nesfatin-1 levels were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was applied to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of serum parameters. Results Serum CysC level in patients with NAFLD was (1.5±0.4)mg/L, much higher than [(0.8±0.2)mg/L, P＜0.05], while serum Lp-α and nesfatin-1 levels were (88.5±18.6)mg/L and (0.9±0.2)ng/mL, much lower than [(140.3±29.5)mg/L and (1.6±0.3)ng/mL, respectively, P＜0.05] in the healthy persons; serum CysC level in patients with severe fatty liver was (1.9±0.3)mg/L, much higher than [(1.6±0.3)mg/L, P＜0.05] in patients with moderate fatty liver or [(1.2±0.2)mg/L, P＜0.05] in patients with mild fatty liver, while serum Lp-α and nesfatin-1 levels were (63.6±15.9)mg/L and (0.4±0.1)ng/mL, significantly lower than [(88.2±14.3)mg/L and (0.9±0.2)ng/mL, P＜0.05] in patients with moderate fatty liver or [(104.3±17.8)mg/L and (1.2±0.3)ng/mL, P＜0.05] in patients with mild fatty liver; the Logistic regression analysis showed that increased serum CysC, fasting plasma glucose, TC and LDL-C levels or decreased serum Lp-α and nesfatin-1 levels were all the independent risk factors for severe fatty liver (P＜0.05); the AUROC was 0.887, with the sensitivity of 86.7%, the specificity of 80.9% and the accuracy of 82.4%, when the combination of the three serum parameters was applied in predicting severe fatty liver, much superior to 0.738, 0.773 and 0.776(P＜0.05) by any serum parameter alone. Conclusion Serum CysC level increases, while serum Lp-α and nesfatin-1 levels decrease in patients with NAFLD, which warrants further investigation for clinical application.

Key words: Non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases, Cystatin C, Lipoprotein α, Human new satiety molecule protein 1