Discovery of an Early Diagnostic Biomarker for NASH

The incidence and prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) continue to rise worldwide, estimated to affect over one-quarter of the global adult population today. A portion of NAFLD patients will progress to develop nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which can cause liver inflammation and cirrhosis, but the mechanisms underlying NAFLD progression to NASH are still not well understood. This makes it difficult to distinguish which individuals have clear potential to develop severe liver disease, and diagnosis of NASH to date has required invasive liver biopsy, further complicating diagnosis and treatment.

Non-invasive tools to identify individuals at risk for developing NASH, at earlier timepoints, are essential for the development and deployment of interventions that can halt, slow, or reverse disease progression.

In this case study, we share how Sapient worked with a partner to identify circulating small molecule diagnostic biomarkers for NASH, and detail the discovery of a single biomarker in blood that predicts disease development more than 10 years in advance.

Watch the video to learn how this NASH biomarker was validated in tens of thousands of individuals from around the world and found to represent a robust, non-invasive early diagnostic biomarker for NASH, and may additionally represent new biological targets for NASH therapeutics.