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Surfing NASH returns to its regular program with a fresh episode and some fascinating and progressive ideas around non-invasive testing. Mazen Noureddin joins co-hosts Jörn Schattenberg, Louise Campbell and Roger Green to discuss serum identification of at-risk MASH and the Metabolomics-Advanced Steatohepatitis Fibrosis Score (MASEF). In late July, Mazen co-authored a paper on the subject which was published in Hepatology.

For this opening conversation, Mazen cogently introduces why and how MASEF came to exist as an emerging noninvasive test. He first notes the utility of the HbA1c test - one of the commonly used tests to diagnose prediabetes and diabetes and also the main test to assist health care teams manage diabetes - suggesting that hepatology could benefit from having something similar for risk stratification and disease identification. While not exactly comparable to having an HbA1c test for NAFLD, Mazen suggests this work with MASEF to be “a step in the right direction.” He then goes on to describe the research background and partnerships with an experienced metabolomics team before describing in further detail study parameters and notable findings. At the end of the session, Jörn inserts a question which clarifies the diversity of cohorts. Lastly, Mazen raises the idea that MASEF could be used alternatively to liver stiffness measurement by VCTE in the algorithm that is currently recommended by several guidance publications.

If you have questions or comments around MASEF, metabolomics or any other ideas considered in this episode, we kindly ask that you submit reviews wherever you download the discourse. Alternatively, you can write to us directly at [email protected]. The Surfing the NASH Tsunami will be back next week with more original content.

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