Circulating microRNA expression and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in adolescents with severe obesity

Figure 2 Heatmap of microRNA associated with two or more histological features of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Heatmap for association between microRNA (miRNA) expression and histological features of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery participants. Red indicates positive association, and purple indicates negative association. 16 miRNAs were associated with two or more histological features and were assigned into two clusters by k-means clustering. Cluster 1 (red bar on left) includes 6 miRNAs that are mostly upregulated in patients with NAFLD, but downregulated in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) (relative to nonalcoholic fatty liver), ballooning, fibrosis, and lobular inflammation. Cluster 2 (green bar on left) includes 10 miRNAs that are mostly upregulated in the presence of NASH, ballooning and fibrosis. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01, ^cP < 0.001. NAFLD: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; NASH: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.