Circulating and hepatic levels of growth differentiation factor 15 in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.

Aim: Increased growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) may reflect impaired metabolic health and an inflammatory state in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). We investigated the role of GDF15 in histologically verified MASLD in a meal test (discovery) cohort (n = 20) and a prospective (validation) cohort with 2 years of follow-up (n = 276).

Methods: Participants were evaluated clinically and histologically in both cohorts.