Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to explore the changes of serum hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), chemerin and adiponectin (ADPN) levels in patients with metabolic-associated fatty liver diseases (MAFLD). Methods 86 patients with MAFLD and 43 healthy individuals at physical healthy examination matched by age and gender were consecutively encountered in our hospital between March 2020 and October 2022. Serum levels of HIF-1α, Chemerin and ADPN were detected by ELISA, and the hepatic steatosis was evaluated by ultrasonography. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was applied to analyze the diagnostic performance of serum indicators on severe steatosis in patients with MAFLD. Results Serum HIF-1α and chemerin levels in patients with MAFLD were (16.6±3.1)μg/L and (92.7±8.9)μg/L, both significantly higher than [(9.2±2.1)μg/L and (60.4±9.5)μg/L, P<0.05] in the control, while serum ADPN level was (15.1±3.8)mg/L, significantly lower than [(25.4±6.2)mg/L, P<0.05] in the control; serum HIF-1α and chemerin levels in 35 patients with severe hepatic steatosis were (19.9±3.7)μg/L and (107.9±10.5)μg/L, both significantly higher than [(16.3±1.9)μg/L and (92.9±8.7)μg/L, P<0.05] in 29 patients with moderate liver steatosis or [(10.5±1.8)μg/L and (84.0±8.3)μg/L, P<0.05] in 22 patients with mild steatosis, while serum ADPN level was (12.3±2.8)mg/L, much lower than [(16.4±4.8)mg/L, P<0.05] in patients with moderate steatosis or [(24.2±4.2)mg/L, P<0.05] in patients with mild steatosis; the multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the fasting blood glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, HIF-1α and chemerin and low level of ADPN were the independent risk factors for severe steatosis in patients with MAFLD (P<0.05); the AUC was 0.920 by the combination of serum HIF-1α, chemerin and ADPN levels in predicting severe steatosis in patients with MAFLD, much larger than 0.846, 0.742 and 0.795(P<0.05) by the three parameter alone. Conclusion Serum HIF-1α and chemerin levels increase, while serum ADPN level decrease in patients with MAFLD, and the changes of the above three parameters are related to the steatosis degree in patients with MAFLD, and their clinical implications are worthy of further investigation.

Key words: Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease, Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α, Chemerin, Adiponectin, Diagnosis