A prospective study on the prevalence of MASLD in people with type-2 diabetes in the community. Cost effectiveness of screening strategies

Background and Aims: As screening for the liver disease and risk-stratification pathways are not established in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), we evaluated the diagnostic performance and the cost-utility of different screening strategies for MASLD in the community.// Methods: Consecutive patients with T2DM from primary care underwent screening for liver diseases, ultrasound, ELF score and transient elastography (TE). Five strategies were compared to the standard of care: ultrasound plus abnormal liver function tests (LFTs), Fibrosis score-4 (FIB-4), NAFLD fibrosis score, Enhanced liver fibrosis test (ELF) and TE. Standard of care was defined as abnormal LFTs prompting referral to hospital. A Markov model was built based on the fibrosis stage, defined by TE. We generated the cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained and calculated the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) over a lifetime horizon.// Results: Of 300 patients, 287 were included: 64% (186) had MASLD and 10% (28) had other causes of liver disease. Patients with significant fibrosis, advanced fibrosis, and cirrhosis due to MASLD were 17% (50/287), 11% (31/287) and 3% (8/287), respectively. Among those with significant fibrosis classified by LSM≥8.1 kPa, false negatives were 54% from ELF and 38% from FIB-4. On multivariate analysis, waist circumference, BMI, AST levels and education rank were independent predictors of significant and advanced fibrosis. All the screening strategies were associated with QALY gains, with TE (148.73 years) having the most substantial gains, followed by FIB-4 (134.07 years), ELF (131.68 years) and NAFLD fibrosis score (121.25 years). In the cost-utility analysis, ICER was £2480/QALY for TE, £2541.24/QALY for ELF and £2059.98/QALY for FIB-4.// Conclusion: Screening for MASLD in the diabetic population in primary care is cost-effective and should become part of a holistic assessment. However, traditional screening strategies, including FIB-4 and ELF, underestimate the presence of significant liver disease in this setting

The role of bile-metabolising enzymes in the pathogenesis of Clostridioides difficile infection, and the impact of faecal microbiota transplantation

The pathogenesis of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), and mechanisms of efficacy of faecal microbiota transplant (FMT) in treating recurrent CDI (rCDI), remain poorly-understood. Certain bile acids affect the ability of C. difficile to undergo germination or vegetative growth. Loss of gut microbiota-derived bile-metabolising enzymes may predispose to CDI via perturbation of bile metabolism, and restitution of gut bile-metabolising functionality could mediate FMT’s efficacy. Initially, human samples were analysed, i.e.: 1) biofluids collected from rCDI patients pre- and post-FMT (and their donors), and 2) stool samples from primary CDI patients, including both recurrers and non-recurrers. Analysis included: 16S rRNA gene sequencing; liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for bile acid profiling; gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for short chain fatty acid (SCFA) quantification; bile salt hydrolase (BSH) enzyme activity; and qPCR of bsh/ baiCD genes involved in bile metabolism. Human results were validated in C. difficile batch cultures and a rCDI mouse model. A reduced proportion of the stool microbiota of rCDI patients pre-FMT contained BSH-producing bacteria compared to donors or post-FMT. Pre-FMT stool was enriched in taurocholic acid (TCA; a potent trigger to C. difficile germination); TCA levels negatively correlated with bacterial genera containing BSH-producing organisms. Post-FMT stool demonstrated recovered BSH activity and microbial bsh/ baiCD gene copy number compared with pre-treatment (p<0.05), and recovery of SCFA including valerate (p<0.001). Dynamics of stool bile acids/ BSH activity differed in primary CDI patients with and without disease recurrence. In batch cultures, culture supernatant from engineered bsh-expressing E. coli reduced TCA-mediated C. difficile germination relative to supernatant from BSH-negative E. coli. C. difficile total viable counts were ~70% reduced in a rCDI mouse model after administration of BSH-expressing E. coli relative to mice receiving BSH-negative E. coli (p<0.05). These data demonstrate that gut microbiota BSH functionality is a key mechanism influencing vulnerability to CDI and efficacy of FMT.Open Acces