Primary liver injury and delayed resolution of liver stiffness after alcohol detoxification in heavy drinkers with the PNPLA3 variant I148M

Table 4 Spearman rank correlation of PNPLA3 carrier status and liver stiffness with histological parameters

Parameter (n = 80)	PNPLA3 CC (n = 43)	PNPLA3 CG (n = 29)	PNPLA3 GG (n = 8)	Liver stiffness (kPa)
Steatohepatitis (score 0-2)	-0.163	-0.099	0.404b	0.391b
Microgranulomas (score 0-1)	-0.095	-0.139	0.357b	0.387b
Ballooning (score 0-2)	-0.221a	0.020	0.319b	0.516b
Glycogenated nuclei (score 0-1)	-0.124	-0.080	0.316b	0.335b
Steatosis (score 0-3)	-0.125	-0.045	0.264a	0.096
Lobular inflammation (score 0-3)	-0.142	-0.003	0.227a	0.420b
Megamitochondria (score 0-1)	-0.121	-0.005	0.198	0.278b
Large lipogranulomas (score 0-1)	0.134	-0.238a	0.145	0.144
Acidophil bodies (score 0-1)	-0.016	-0.072	0.133	0.285b
Pericellular fibrosis (score 0-3)	-0.224	0.141	0.131	0.567b
Chevallier fibrosis score (SSS)	-0.189	0.112	0.131	0.828b
Ballooning k8/18 stain (score 0-2)	-0.537b	0.490b	0.089	0.692b
Kleiner fibrosis score (score 0-4)	-0.163	0.148	0.035	0.745b
Mallory Denk Bodies (score 0-1)	-0.121	0.110	0.026	0.530b
Apoptosis M30 stain (score 0-3)	-0.039	0.031	0.014	0.490b
Pigmented macrophages (score 0-1)	0.003	0.012	-0.022	-0.009
Portal inflammation (score 0-1)	-0.027	0.099	-0.106	0.427b
Liver stiffness (kPa)	-0.045	0.017	0.037	1.000

Liver stiffness primarily correlates with fibrosis and liver damage but not significant with steatosis. In contrast, GG carrier status is tightly associated with liver injury and weakly with steatosis.

^aP < 0.05 vs

^bP < 0.01. PNPLA3: Adiponutrin.