Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to investigate changes of serum arginase-1 (Arg-1) levels and apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A1 ((ApoB/ApoA1) ratio in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods 69 patients with NAFLD and 50 healthy volunteers were recruited in Gaochun Hospital, affiliated to Jiangsu University between February 2021 and December 2023, all patients with NAFLD underwent liver biopsies, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and liver fibrosis were diagnosed based on NAFLD activity score (NAS). Serum Arg-1 levels were detected by ELISA, and serum ApoB/ApoA1 ratio was calculated. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn and area under the curve (AUC) was obtained to predict NASH with liver fibrosis. Results Of 69 patients with NAFLD, liver histo-pathological examination showed simple fatty liver(SFL) in 23 cases, NASH in 32 cases [including significant liver fibrosis (SLF) in 18 cases] and NASH-related liver cirrhosis in 14 cases; serum Arg-1 level and ApoB/ApoA1 ratio in patients with liver cirrhosis were (5.7±1.4)ng/ml and (1.0±0.2), both significantly higher than [(4.6±1.2)ng/ml and (0.8±0.1), P<0.05] in patients with NASH or [(3.1±1.0)ng/ml and (0.7±0.1), P<0.05] in patients with SFL or [(1.5±0.4)ng/ml and (0.5±0.1), P<0.05] in healthy control; serum Arg-1 level and ApoB/ApoA1 ration in patients with NASH and SLF were (5.5±1.2)ng/ml and (0.9±0.2), both significantly higher than [(3.4±1.0)ng/ml and (0.7±0.1), respectively, P<0.05] in patients with NASH; ROC analysis showed that the AUC was 0.960(95%CI:0.893-1.000), with sensitivity of 94.4% and specificity of 92.9%, when serum Arg-1 levels and ApoB/ApoA1 ratio combination was applied to predict NASH with SLF, much superior to any parameters did alone (P<0.05). Conclusion Serum Arg-1 levels and ApoB/ApoA1 ratio significantly elevate, which might hint existence of NASH or even SLF, and need carefully concerned.

Key words: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, Liver fibrosis, Arginase-1, Apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A1 ratio, Diagnosis