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Background and Aims Methods Results Conclusion Lifestyle intervention is the mainstay of therapy for metabolic dysfunction‐associated steatohepatitis (MASH), and liver fibrosis is a key consequence of MASH that predicts adverse clinical outcomes. The placebo response plays a pivotal role in the outcome of MASH clinical trials. Second harmonic generation/two‐photon excitation fluorescence (SHG/TPEF) microscopy with artificial intelligence analyses can provide an automated quantitative assessment of fibrosis features on a continuous scale called qFibrosis. In this exploratory study, we used this approach to gain insight into the effect of lifestyle intervention‐induced fibrosis changes in MASH.We examined unstained sections from paired liver biopsies (baseline and end‐of‐intervention) from MASH individuals who had received either routine lifestyle intervention (RLI) (n = 35) or strengthened lifestyle intervention (SLI) (n = 17). We quantified liver fibrosis with qFibrosis in the portal tract, periportal, transitional, pericentral, and central vein regions.About 20% (7/35) and 65% (11/17) of patients had fibrosis regression in the RLI and SLI groups, respectively. Liver fibrosis tended towards no change or regression after each lifestyle intervention, and this phenomenon was more prominent in the SLI group. SLI‐induced liver fibrosis regression was concentrated in the periportal region.Using digital pathology, we could detect a more pronounced fibrosis regression with SLI, mainly in the periportal region. With changes in fibrosis area in the periportal region, we could differentiate RLI and SLI patients in the placebo group in the MASH clinical trial. Digital pathology provides new insight into lifestyle‐induced fibrosis regression and placebo responses, which is not captured by conventional histological staging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Metabolic dysfunction‐associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is an emerging risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD). N‐terminal propeptide of collagen type 3 (PRO‐C3) is a biomarker of advanced fibrosis in MAFLD and PRO‐C3 may be involved in renal fibrosis. We aimed to use PRO‐C3 measurements to generate a new algorithmic score to test the prediction of MAFLD with chronic kidney disease (MAFLD–CKD). Methods: A derivation and independent validation cohort of 750 and 129 Asian patients with biopsy‐confirmed MAFLD were included. Serum PRO‐C3 concentration was measured and regression analyses were performed to examine associations with MAFLD–CKD. A derivative algorithm for MAFLD–CKD risk prediction was evaluated with receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: The study included two Asian cohorts (n = 180 with MAFLD–CKD; mean‐eGFR: 94.93 mL/min/1.73 m2; median‐urinary albumin‐to‐creatinine ratio: 6.58 mg/mmol). PRO‐C3 was associated with the severity of MAFLD‐CKD and independently associated with MAFLD–CKD (adjusted odds ratio = 1.16, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08–1.23, p <.001). A new non‐invasive score (termed PERIOD) including PRO‐C3 efficiently predicted MAFLD‐CKD (AUROC =.842, 95% CI:.805–.875). Accuracy, specificity and negative predictive values were 80.2%, 85.1% and 88.4%, respectively. In the validation cohort, the PERIOD score had good diagnostic performance (AUROC =.807, 95% CI:.691–.893) with similar results in all patient subgroups. In the MAFLD–CKD subgroup, the accuracy for identifying advanced fibrosis was further improved by combining the PRO‐C3‐based ADAPT with the Agile 3+ scores (AUROC =.90, 95% CI:.836–.964). Conclusions: The PERIOD score is helpful for accurately predicting the risk of MAFLD–CKD. PRO‐C3 can also be used to assess liver fibrosis in people with MAFLD–CKD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]